Preparatory sketch of Sir Daniel Rufus Isaacs (1860-1935), 1st Marquess of Reading and Viceroy of India, 1926, wearing the robes of the Grand Master of the Star of India

Details

Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937)
Preparatory sketch of Sir Daniel Rufus Isaacs (1860-1935), 1st Marquess of Reading and Viceroy of India, 1926, wearing the robes of the Grand Master of the Star of India
oil on canvas
30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm.)

Provenance

In the possession of the artist on his death.
John de Laszlo, his youngest son.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 22 July 2009, lot 6.

Literature

Sitters’ Book II, f. 51: Reading / Decr 1926
Gregory Rowcliffe & Co. Will Trust. Inventory of Portraits, Pictures, Studies, Sketches, Drawings etc. by Philip Alexius Laszlo de Lombos, M.V.O., etc. London, 1938, p.9 (51) The Rt. Hon. Rufus Isaacs, First Marquess of Reading. Study for large portrait now in Government Buildings, New Delhi, India.
O. Rutter, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 365.

Lot Essay

This is a preparatory oil sketch for a formal full-length portrait of the Marquess of Reading, completed in 1927. The finished portrait, commissioned for Delhi’s Government Buildings, proved too large to hang in its destined place, and had to be cut down to a three-quarter length portrait. It is currently untraced, and was the third portrait de László executed of a Viceroy of India, having previously painted Lord Minto and Lord Hardinge.

More from Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art, Maritime Art, Sporting & Wildlife Art

View All