Philip de Laszlo: Alexius de Lippich

"King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria"
by Philip de Laszlo

"In 1893 Philip de Laszlo became closely associated with Mr. Alexius de Lippich, who was then secretary of the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Education. Lippich was some ten years older than de Laszlo, and was a typical member of the exclusive Hungarian landed gentry class. It is remarkable, therefore, that he should have made friends with a young artist whose name, when thefriendship began, was scarcely known even in Hungary.

Lippich's letters show that he was a shrewd man of business.It is reasonable to suppose that he recognized de Laszlo's unusual talent and thought it worthwhile to help in the shaping of his career. At the same time there seems no doubt that he was sincerely fond of de Laszlo, and he commissioned him to paint a portrait of Mrs. Lippich which was exhibited at the Winter Exhibition of 1894. In February he got him a commission to paint the portrait of the daughter-in-law of a famous poet, Janos Arany. 'I believe that this commission will give you the entree into a new society set,' wrote Lippich, 'which may be of great advantage to your future career.'

It is clear from this letter that Lippich had constituted himself de Laszlo's mentor, and when de Laszlo had to write letters to those in a higher social sphere, Lippich would even make a draft for him to copy. Thenceforward he had a profound influence on de Laszlo's career and it seems highly probably that it was through Lippich that de Laszlo obtained his first royal commissions - the portraits of Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria and of his consort, Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma. 

De Laszlo spoke of his experience: 'I had brought with me all the necessary materials for painting the portraits and the Prince allowed me to use one of the aide-de-camps' rooms, on the north side of the palace, as a studio. On the day I was to start the picture the Prince entered the studio in uniform, with all his magnificent decorations. 

'Look at my forehead,' he said to me solemnly. 'You can see that it is the forehead of a thinker, who has many sorrows and much trouble. Look at my hands. They are the hands of a sovereign who often sits through the night when all the world is asleep, working hard at his desk, at that desk where all the wires of Europe concentrate for me to pull.' Such were the words with which Ferdinand introduced himself. It was difficult for me to keep and solemn face and not burst out laughing.'" 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Portrait of a Painter" by Owen Rutter.)