Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1869 Pest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)

Died: 1937 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1907

Other name/s: László Fülöp, László Fülöp Elek, Laub Fülöp, Philip Alexius de László

Biography

Painter Philip de László was born Fülöp Laub into a lower middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary in 1869. At the age of fourteen, he began work as an assistant to a set designer and was then apprenticed to a photographer's studio, before entering the Budapest School of Applied Arts in 1884. In 1886, he was awarded a scholarship to the National Academy of Arts, Budapest, where he spent three years, before attending the Akademie in Munich for two non-consecutive years (1889 and 1891, meeting his future wife, Lucy Madeleine Guinness, whom he married in 1900); he spent the transitional year at the Académie Julian in Paris. Initially, he focused on history and genre painting, specialising in portraits following his first major portrait commission from the royal family of Bulgaria in 1894, followed by his portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph (1899). His portrait of Pope Leo XIII won the Great Gold Medal at the 1900 International Exhibition in Paris, was subsequently shown at the International Society of Arts’ exhibition in London, and gained him his first commission from the British Royal family when Queen Victoria requested a portrait of General Sir George White (Royal Collection Trust).

In 1903 the de Lászlós moved to Vienna, Austria, before settling in London in 1907. Prior to the move, de László was already fascinated by the long history of émigré artists in London, and recalled in his autobiography: 'All this led me to feel that here indeed I could make my life, in this home of the art to which I was devoted, and that I might aspire to become a link, however humble, in the chain of foreign artists who have been received and treated by England as her own sons' (Rutter, 1939, p. 233). After the retirement of the prominent British portrait painter John Singer Sargent, de László effectively took over his clientele, becoming one of the leading portraitists of the Edwardian era. Before his arrival, de László organised an exhibition of 50 paintings at the Fine Arts Society, including portraits of the European elite, gaining him his second royal commission from King Edward VII for a sketch of his daughter, Princess Victoria, followed by half-length portraits of the king and his wife, Queen Alexandra (Royal Collection). In 1908 de László travelled to America to paint President Theodore Roosevelt. His most memorable sitters include Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), Arthur Balfour, Vita Sackville-West, Lady Alastair Graham, Lord Devonport and Sir Ernest Rutherford. He was invested as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1909 by King Edward VII and raised to the Hungarian nobility by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1912, after which he started using the shortened form of his name, Philip Alexius de László. He had solo exhibitions at Agnew's (1911, 1913), exhibited annually at the Royal Academy (1911-14) and was an occasional teacher at the London and New Art School in Kensington. In August 1914 de László gained British citizenship, but was interned during the First World War, after sending his mother money and letters, which were subsequently intercepted, then failing to report a visit to his home by a Hungarian war fugitive (to whom he gave £1). He spent September 1917 to May 1918, firstly, in Brixton Prison, then Holloway Internment Camp; following a nervous breakdown, he was released in 1918 but remained under house arrest at a nursing home at 20 Ladbroke Gardens, London until June 1919, only allowed visits from his wife and children, although supported by artists including Sir Luke Fildes and the art critic Alfred Lys Baldry.

Afterwards, de László continued to be in demand as a portraitist: his international commissions included American Presidents Warren Harding (1921) and Calvin Coolidge (1926), and Benito Mussolini (1923), and he held four exhibitions at the French Gallery, London between 1923 and 1929), and at the Knoedler Galleries (1933, 1934). His reputation in Britain suffered, however, from his wartime experience and despite innumerable foreign honours, he received nothing further in his adopted country beyond the MVO bestowed on him by Edward VII. A fellow of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters from 1913 onwards, he was also elected president of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1930 and vice-president of the Royal Society of Arts in 1937. In 1936 he suffered a heart attack, followed by a second fatal attack in October the following year, while at work on coronation portraits for faithful patrons the dukes of Portland and Northumberland. He died at his house at 3 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, on 22 November 1937, on the eve of a large charity exhibition of his work at Wildenstein & Co., London. He is buried with his wife in the churchyard of All Saints’ Church, Tilford, Farnham. His work is in many UK public collections including the Courtauld Institute of Art, the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate.

Related books

Katherine Field & Gábor Bellák, Philip de László: 'I am an Artist of the World' (London: The de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019)
The Diaries of Lucy de László, Volume I: 1890–1913 (London: The de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019)
Katherine Field, Philip Alexius de László: 150th Anniversary Exhibition (London: The de László Archives Trust, 2019)
Phil Tomaselli, The Spy Who Painted the Queen: The Secret Case against Philip de László (Stroud: The History Press, 2015)
Duff Hart-Davis, Philip De Laszlo: His Life and Art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010)
Sandra De Laszlo, A Brush with Grandeur: Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937) (London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2004)
Juliet Kinchin, 'An Artist at Home, Philip de László', in Gyula Ernyey (ed.), Budapest and London, Britain & Hungary, Contacts in Architecture & Design During the 19th and 20th Century, Essays & Studies (Budapest: Hungarian University of Craft & Design, 1999)
Derek Clifford, The Paintings of P.A. de László (London: Literary Services & Production Ltd., 1969)
Owen Rutter, Portrait of a Painter – The Authorised Life of P.A. de László (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1939)
'Laurels Won By Hungarian Artist Abroad: Sir Philip de Laszlo Is Elected Head of British Group', The Washington Post, 18 March 1930, p. 8
'Mr. Philip de Laszlo Portraits', The Observer, 26 May 1929, p. 14.

Public collections

Related organisations

Fine Arts Society (exhibitor)
London and New Art School, Kensington (teacher)
Royal Academy (exhibitor, 1911–14)
Royal Society of Arts (vice-president)
Royal Society of British Artists (president)
Royal Society of Portrait Painters (member)
Académie Julian (student)
National Academy of Arts, Budapest (student)
Academy of Arts, Munich (student)

Selected exhibitions

Philip Alexius de László (1869–1937): 'I am an Artist of the World', Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (2019)
Philip Alexius de László: An Anniversary Celebration, British Antique Dealers' Association Spring Fair, London (2019)
Philip de László Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London (2010)
A Brush with Grandeur, Christie's London (2004)
Wildenstein's Gallery, London (1937)
An Exhibition of Mr. Philip de Laszlo's Work, Knoedler's Gallery, London (1934)
The French Gallery, London (1929, 1927, 1924, 1923)
Corcoran Gallery, Washington (1921)
Agnew's, London (1911, 1913)
Dowdeswell's Gallery, London (1908)
Philip A. László: Portrait Paintings and Drawings, Fine Art Society, London (1907)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Philip de László]