3204

Preparatory work

Queen Marie of Romania, née Princess Marie of Edinburgh 1936

Standing almost full- length slightly to the left, head turned and looking to the right, wearing court dress with decorations, a cloak over her shoulders, a diamond tiara, a string of pearls and a long necklace with a drop pendant

Oil on canvasboard, 51 x 40.5 cm (20 x 16 in.)

Inscribed lower left: Queen Marie of Roumania / Palais Cotroceni / 1936 I 31 de László           

Verso inscribed: Study of in the artist's hand and H.M. Queen Marie of Roumania / Bucharest 1936 [in another hand]

Sitters’ Book II, f. 85: Marie / Marie, / Cotroceni / Feb. 1936

Studio Inventory, p. 59 (304): Queen Marie of Roumania (Study). Seem 303

Private Collection

De László was commissioned to paint a formal portrait of Queen Marie for the National Bank of Romania, for which he traveled to Bucharest in 1936. For his most important works he would make careful oil studies like this to determine pose and  colour scheme. The formal three-quarter length [2961] is virtually identical to this preparatory oil study in composition and colouring. As that picture was nearing completion, however, de László grew dissatisfied, abandoned it, and started again [3211], changing the composition so that Queen was seated and more simply dressed. 

The rejected portrait, a preparatory oil study [84], preparatory drawing [111639], and the present picture, remained in de László’s studio until his death.

For biographical notes on the sitter and a full description of the commission, see [2961].

PROVENANCE:  

In the possession of the artist on his death;

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:  

•Roumania, Queen Marie (of), Diaries, vol. III / 195 (film reel 489), pp. 77, 80-81, National Archives, Bucharest

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 376-7

•Elsberry, Terence, Marie of Romania, The Intimate Life of a Twentieth Century Queen, Cassel, London, 1973, p. 263

•Fotescu, Diana, ed., Americans and Queen Marie of Romania, A selection of Documents, The Center for Romanian Studies, Oxford, 1998, p. 119

SMdeL & KF 2014