Philip de Laszlo: Honors

"Mrs. Chichester de Windt Crookshank"
by Philip de Laszlo

"Philip de Laszlo felt that it was unfair that, as a British subject, he should not be allowed to wear foreign orders. In the previous year he had painted the King of Sweden in London and His Majesty had conferred upon him the ancient Order of the Vasa. The Swedish Minister in London, when presenting it to de Laszlo warned him that the British Foreign Office would probably not allow him to wear it. Whereupon de Laszlo wrote to Lord Derby asking that an exception might be made in his case. He was politely informed that the regulations permitted a British subject to wear a foreign decoration only when it had been conferred in recognition of official services, not as a reward of personal merit. 

De Laszlo felt this regulation to be ungenerous and illogical. 'How many men are plastered with stars like a Christmas tree,' he complained, 'for their so-called service to the country, and yet I,who receive an order for my personal work am debarred from wearing it!'

Orders Conferred on Philip de Laszlo

• The Order of Art and Science, Bulgaria
• Knight Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Iron Crown 
• Knight of the Order of the White Falcon of Sace-Weimar
• The Order of Pope Leo XIII
• The Hohenzollern House Order
• The Order of Art and Science, Hesse-Darmstadt
• Commander of the Prussian Crown, 2nd Class
• Officer of the Legion d'Honneur
• Member of the Victorian Order
• Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain
• Commander of the Royal Order of the Saviour of Greece
• Knight Commander of the Order of the Vasa, Sweden
• Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• The Order of Pope Pius IX
• Knight of the Order of Jesus Christ, Portugal
• Grand Officer of the Order of St. Charles of Monaco
• Grand Officer of the Order of Ismail, Egypt
• The Order of Merit, Hungary, with star
• Grand Officer of the Order of Cultural Art of Romania
• A.D.C.Badge, Queen Marie of Romania
• The Corvinus Order of Hungary

  Medals

• Bavarian Silver Medal, 1892
• Hungarian Bronze Medal, 1896
• Hungarian State Gold Medal, 1897
• Paris Salon Gold Medal 2nd Class, 1899
• Hungarian State Gold Medal, 1900
• Papal Gold Medal Leo XIII, 1900
• Exposition Universelle, 1900, Gold Bronze
• Austrain Gold Medal, 1902
• Carl Ludwig of Austrain Gold Medal
• Prussian State Gold Medal
• Gold Medal Grand Prix of the City of Venice
• Louisiana Exposition Gold Medal, 1904
• Munich Gold Medal, 1905
• Barcelona Gold Medal, 1911
• Hungarian Gold Plaque, 1912
• Barcelona Gold Medal, 1929
• Royal Society of Arts, Silver Medal, 1936 

 To be continued

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