Lot Essay
De László gave a dinner party and reception in honour of his old friend Marshal Lyautey at his London home on 7 December 1928, guests included Sir Austen and Lady Chamberlain, Lord and Lady Minto, and Lord and Lady Onslow. Plans to paint the sitter had been developed as early as 1926, and Lyautey sat for the present work in the artist's studio on 4 December, when he signed the sitter's book. De László travelled to Lyautey's country house in Thorey in late October 1929 to paint a formal three-quarter length portrait and there was some confusion after the artist's death as to where the present work had been executed as it is recorded in the Studio Inventory as having been painted at Thorey.
Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (1854-1934) was a Marshal of France who served and gained his great reputation primarily in colonial postings. During the pacification of northern Indo-China he was Gallieni's subordinate and went with him to Madagascar after its annexation by France in 1897, where, once again faced with pacification problems he devised the 'quadrillage' system; a system which became a model for colonial campaigns everywhere. In 1912 he was made high commissioner in the protectorate of Morocco, where he remained until 1925. His book, 'Le Role Social de L'officier', is one of the most important documents in the intellectual history of the modern French army. He was created Marshal in 1921.
Lyautey died in Thorey and was buried in Morocco, and later reinterred in Les Invalides, Paris in 1961.