Selected letters of Philip de László
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne
by Philip Alexius de László
1920
NPG 2180
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1845-1927), politician
Former governor-general of Canada (1883-8) and viceroy of India (1888-94, Lansdowne's political career brought him appointments as War Secretary and, subsequently, Foreign Secretary. Lansdowne commissioned a portrait from de László in 1920. The result, a full-face portrait, was more ambitious than originally envisaged, and on receiving it at Lansdowne House in Berkeley Square, he was prompted to write the first letter below to invite the artist to increase his fee. The second letter confirms that a payment of £210 was agreed for the painting. The NPG portrait, showing Lansdowne in his Garter robes, was painted at much the same time as the original commission at the request of de László.
- Letter from 5th Marquess of Landsdowne, dated 15 July 1920, inviting de László to increase his fee(074-0039)
- Letter from 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, dated 19 July 1920, enclosing payment and arranging the return of "stage properties" - presumably the sitter's Garter robes (074-0038)
Richard Burdon Haldane, Viscount Haldane
by Philip Alexius de László
1928
NPG 2364
Richard Burdon Haldane (1856-1928), politician, educationalist and lord chancellor
An important figure in politics and education, Haldane supported the enfranchisement of women by co-sponsoring an annual bill which kept the question before the Commons and was actively involved in promoting education and the foundation of the London School of Economics. This portrait, painted shortly before the sitter's death in 1928, was exhibited at the French Gallery and purchased by the National Portrait Gallery for £150 in 1929. Its acquisition delighted the artist and, after the posthumous publication of the sitter's autobiography, attracted wider interest, as the following letters testify.
- Letter from Mrs Alice Bridgeman (née Kleinwort), dated 19 August 1929, concerning several portraits, including that of Lord Haldane (057-0080)
- Letter from Philip de László, dated 6 July 1929, to Lord Haldane's sister concerning the purchase of his portrait of Haldane by the National Portrait Gallery (RP 4856)
- Letter from William Ralph Inge (1860-1954), dated 6 June [193?] to Henry Hake, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, expressing his view of the portrait of Haldane (RP 4856)
- Letter from Mrs Mary Catharine Inge, dated 28 November 1933, expressing her admiration of the portrait of Haldane (020-0245)
Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy
by Philip Alexius de László
1933
NPG 3786
Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy (1862-1935) army officer
After a successful career in the army, Byng was appointed governor-general of Canada (1921-6) and chief commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (1928-31), where he made fundamental and widespread reforms. Byng was first painted by de László in 1908 and sat for him again in December 1932. He was Colonel of the 10th Hussars when this portrait was painted and the finished work was exhibited at Knoedler & Company, London, in 1933. A contemporary copy executed by Sydney Percy Kendrick, favourite copyist of de László, and mentioned in the second letter below, now hangs in the Cavalry and Guards Club, London.
- Letter from Viscountess Marie Evelyn Byng of Vimy, dated 11 March [1933], to arrange a sitting for her husband (020-0123)
- Letter from Sydney Percy Kendrick, dated 6 April [1933?], concerning arrangements for copying the portrait of Byng (020-0251)
- Letter from Winifred Anna Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, dated 14 July 1933, reporting her admiration for the portrait of Byng (021-0049)
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
by Philip Alexius de László
June 1908
NPG 2497
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848-1930) statesman
One of the pivotal figures in British politics from the 1880s to the late 1920s, Balfour was painted several times by de László. He sat for the artist in June 1908, when the Gallery's oil study and a more formal portrait were produced. Balfour was painted again by de László in 1914 and acted as co-sponsor when the artist applied for English citizenship. Balfour's youngest sister Alice, with whom he shared the family home, Whittingehame House in East Lothian, ran his household and seems to have conducted most of the correspondence with de László on her brother's behalf.
- Letter from Alice Balfour, dated 21 July 1908, concerning photographs of her brother's portrait (053-0098)
- Card from Alice Balfour dated 31 August 1908, concerning Wilfrid Ward's request to include a photograph of the portrait of her brother in his book Ten Personal Studies (1908) (053-0099)
- Card from Alice Balfour, dated 14 September 1908, concerning photographs of her brother's portrait (053-0096)
Sir (William Matthew) Flinders Petrie
by Philip Alexius de László
1934
NPG 4007
Sir (William Matthew) Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) archaeologist
Sir Flinders Petrie was painted by de László in 1934, the year after he retired from his position as the first professor of Egyptology at London University. De László produced several portraits of the great archaeologist, one of which, showing Petrie holding a black and red Badarian vase c. 5000 BC found by him at Naqada in 1895, was left by the artist to the National Portrait Gallery. Another painting, a three quarter length portrait, painted for University College London, was unveiled in November 1934 and exhibited the following year at the Paris Salon.
- Letter from Philip de László, dated 31 January 1933, to Lady Hilda Mary Isabel Petrie, asking when Sir Flinders Petrie might be in London for a sitting (021-0042)
- Letter from Philip de László, dated 19 July 1934, to John Robertson of the Panmure Salon in Dundee, in which the artist looks forward to beginning a portrait of Petrie (023-0098)
Sir William Pulteney Pulteney
by Philip Alexius de László
1917
NPG 4236
Sir William Pulteney Pulteney(1861-1941) army officer
Pulteney pursued a career in the army, where he gained the nickname Putty. He served with the Scots Guards in the South African War and commanded the 3rd corps of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. In 1917, the year in which de László painted his portrait, Pulteney was made KCMG and married Jessie Alexandra Arnott. Painted before his marriage, the portrait was paid for by the sitter's sister Miss Isabel Pulteney, as indicated in the first of the letters below.
- Letter from Isabel Pulteney, dated 1 February 1919, enclosing payment for her brother's portrait (049-0005)
- Letter from Isabel Pulteney, dated 7 February 1919, seeking advice about a light fitting for her brother's portrait (049-0006)
Jerome Klapka Jerome
by Philip Alexius de László
1921
NPG 4491
Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) novelist and playwright
Born in Walsall, Jerome is best remembered for his book Three Men in a Boat, 1889, which has remained a popular classic. He was painted by de László in 1921 and in addition to the finished portrait, in the National Portrait Gallery, the artist produced an oil study showing the sitter in a different pose. A copy of the finished portrait was commissioned from John Henry Amschewitz by the Jerome Commemoration Committee for presentation to the town of Walsall. £60 was raised to pay for the copy and the honorary secretary of the committee, Alfred Moss, wrote, in vain, to invite de László to unveil the portrait in 1931.
Jerome wrote that the artist Solomon J. Solomon complained while painting his portrait that the novelist had too many faces: "At one moment I looked a murderer, and the next a saint, according to him". Jerome went on to record that "De Laszlo had the same trouble with me not long ago, but got over it by luring me to talk about myself. In his portrait
there is a touch of the enthusiast." From Jerome K. Jerome's memoirs:
My life and times, an autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1983) p. 95.
- Letter from Alfred Moss, Honorary Secretary of the Jerome Commemoration Committee, dated 14 April 1931, inviting de László to present a commissioned copy of his portrait of Jerome to the town of Walsall (019-0177)
- Letter from Alfred Moss, Honorary Secretary of the Jerome Commemoration Committee, dated 20 April 1931, proposing to alter the time of a presentation ceremony for the copy of de László's portrait of Jerome to suit the artist (019-0176
William Ralph Inge
by Philip Alexius de László
1934
NPG 4856
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954), Dean of St Paul's Cathedral (1911-34) and popular preacher and writer
Dean Inge, known as ‘The Gloomy Dean' because of his weekly Evening Standard articles (1921-46) which often criticised over-optimistic popular opinion, was invited to sit by de László. The portrait, completed in 1934, was given by the artist to Inge's wife, Mary Catharine (Kitty) Spooner, as explained in the letter below from Inge to Henry Hake, Director of the National Portrait Gallery. Inge served as a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1926 to 1951 and his wish was that the portrait should eventually be given to the Gallery.
H.H. Asquith who was a friend of Inge's, described him in his memoirs as a ‘strange isolated figure, with all the culture in the world, and a curiously developed gift of expression, but with kinks and twists both intellectual and temperamental' (H.H. Asquith, Memoirs and reflections, 1852-1927, ed. A. Mackintosh, 1928).
- Letter from William Ralph Inge, dated 11 December 1934, to Henry Hake, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, reporting the proposed gift to the Gallery of his portrait and noting the possible embarrassment this might cause to his fellow Trustees (RP 4856)
- Letter from Philip de László, dated 13 May 1935, responding to Sir Richard Winn Livingstone's appreciation of his portrait of Inge (022/0385)
Sir George Henschel
by Philip Alexius de László
1917
NPG 4935
Sir George Henschel (Isidor Georg Henschel) (1850-1934) musician and conductor
Settling in London in 1884, Henschel conducted the London symphony concerts (1886-97) and was a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music (1886-8). He retired to Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands after the death of his first wife in 1901, but returned to the concert platform as a conductor and singer in 1909 and continued to perform until 1914, when he was knighted. His correspondence with de László suggests the two men became friends after Henschel sat for his portrait in April 1917.
- Letter from Sir George Henschel, dated 12 April 1917, thanking de László for his portrait (045-0019)
- Letter from Sir George Henschel, dated 27 April 1917, concerning a proposed visit to Mrs Van Wisselingh with a footnote about his portrait (045-0017)
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Letter from Sir George Henschel, dated 17 September 1917, reporting the enthusiastic reaction of a friend to de László's portrait (045-0014)
John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby
by Philip Alexius de László
1923
NPG 6597
John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby (1877-1969), colonial administrator
Maffey sat for his portrait at the end of 1923, shortly before he stepped down as Chief Commissioner of the North-West Frontier Province, now the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. De László made two preparatory drawings and this study-portrait as well as the formal portrait, painted in 1924, which was given to the sitter's old college Christ Church, Oxford in 1974. A copy of the portrait was painted by Frederick Cullen for Government House, Peshawar in 1924-5, as is explained in the following two letters from the copyist Frederick Cullen.
- Letter from copyist Frederick Cullen, dated 14 September 1924, concerning his son and completion of a copy of the portrait of Maffey (015-0061)
- Letter from copyist, Frederick Cullen dated 19 February 1925, mentioning a visit by Maffey to see the copy of his portrait (063-0013)
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