Philip de Laszlo: Honors

"Philip Alexius de Laszlo," 1911

"As the months passed, Philip de Laszlo became increasingly glad that he had come to live in England. His facility for making himself liked served him well and broke down the barriers of English reserve, with its instinctive mistrust of foreigners. He became popular in London society and thanks to his friendship with painter Alfred East, his fellow artists accepted him. He was elected an honorary member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and of the National Portrait Society and joined the Arts Club and the Burlington Fine Arts. He himself held an exhibition at the Dowdeswell Galleries where he showed 38 pictures, including those of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, Princess Victoria, President Roosevelt and others.

At that time the Italian Government invited de Laszlo to paint a self-portrait for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the highest official tribute that can be paid to a living artist. The invitation came just when he was preparing for an exhibition of his works at Agnew's Galleries in Old Bond Street. Characteristically, he could not wait to paint the portrait, but determined to have it finished in time to include it in the exhibition before it went to Florence. He completed it only a week before the opening day. The picture shows the artist in his plain linen smock with palette and brush in hand, as though intent upon his work, and scrutinizing the face of a sitter with the alert and critical expression which was so familiar to all who had seen him painting.

His biography was also being written by Baron bon Schleinitz. De Laszlo wrote him: 'When I received the flattering information that you had been asked to write my biography, my first feeling was one of pleasure and then one of sadness. A monograph, one feels, suggests the conclusion of a man's life, and, thank God, I feel very far from the end of mine. I shall still hoist my sail high and struggle and work to attain the greatest of all aims: to come nearer to the achievement of the highest in art. I am happy to be able to say that in each of my works I can perceive progress. I believe it to be my duty to reproduce and to exalt all that is noble, beautiful and significant in mankind. A portrait should be a likeness or a decoration, but should also have the power to inspire and to exalt,. May I always paint my portraits as a lover of humanity! True art can be born only when we allow ourselves to be influenced by the highest and the greatest.'"

To be continued

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