Philip de Laszlo: Miss Lucy Guinness

"Portrait of My Wife" by Philip de Laszlo

"The year 1892 brought Philip de Laszlo the greatest happiness he had yet known. Every winter a ball was given in Munich by the students' Austro-Hungarian Society, the proceeds of which were used to help struggling students. It was there that de Laszlo met his future wife, Miss Lucy Guinness.

Philip de Laszlo described their meeting: 'Although fancy dress was not obligatory at the ball, I decided to go in costume, and as I had just painted a French revolutionary and liked the outfit, I got permission from the Academy to wear it for the evening. I had a dark wig with long hair, and a three-cornered hat, a lorgnette hanging on a black ribbon and a smart tall cane of the period. I was in high spirits that night.

My friend Baron Von Krahl and I had been sitting barely a quarter of an hour at our table when we were asked if we would allow some English ladies to sit at the unoccupied part of our table, since they could find room nowhere else. They turned out to be two charming and distinguished golden-haired girls, holding themselves very erect. Miss Lucy, the younger sister, was dressed in a rose-coloured silk gown, simply cut, with no jewelry and long white gloves. She carried a little fan and had a pink velvet ribbon in her hair. 

Conversation dragged until I turned to her. I talked about the coming World Exhibition in Chicago, where I hoped to show the 'Hofbrauhaus' or another painting. It struck me at once how splendid it would be if I could get her as a model for my picture of the Hofbrauhaus. She was just such a figure as I had thought of. I went on to speak of these pictures, wanting to let her know that I was an artist and working in the Academy. She was obviously interested in all my chatter and was very pleasant, but after supper left the table and went to the ballroom."

The upshot of this was that de Laszlo found her and spent the rest of the time with her. It was clear that they had strong feelings for each other. This developed into love, but when the subject of marriage came up her family strongly disapproved of the match. And Philip's oldest sister scolded him as well saying, 'You're so young and you aren't even an established artist yet. You must be mad!' So for seven years de Laszlo worked hard at his profession, remained true to Lucy, and established himself as a successful artist. In the end he more than proved himself to be worthy of Lucy's hand in marriage.

To be continued

(Excerpts from Owen Rutter's biography "Portrait of a Painter.")