This exquisite example of de László’s work is one of the most sensitive and innovative of his career. De László recorded the progress of this picture in his diary: '27th June. I have been painting a picture of John with a bowl of goldfish, and made good progress with it this morning. How interesting it is to watch the movement of the fish in the water, and how they like to cross each other…Life is full of interest if only we gave more time to the observation of it: but we pass life by and miss so much. We tend to become one-sided and forget the principal things of life – love, sympathy and devotion to all the wonders of the Almighty’s creation' (O. Rutter, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 331-32). He completed it on the 5 July: 'To-day I finished the picture. It has many good qualities in colour and composition, and I think it has caught the character of the boy. I know it might have been much better, but I am too conscious of my present humiliating circumstances. I should love to paint the same subject again, smaller, with interior and sunshine. Dear little affectionate Johnny sat so well. I think he knows I am suffering, that something is wrong with me. In the way he greets me and says goodbye he expresses his love' (Ibid, pp. 331-32).
In 1914 the threat of war, and the possibility of his eldest son being conscripted into the Hungarian army on his 15th birthday, spurred de László to formalise his British naturalisation in July that year. From 1914-1917 he had contributed generously to war charities and was much in demand painting the portraits of officers on leave from the front. He donated canvases for fundraising auctions that secured £4,500 for the British Red Cross. However, from a very young age the artist had supported his family in Hungary with regular payments of money and they wrote to each other regularly. He continued this practice after the outbreak of war as he tried to receive information about the death of his mother in Budapest in January 1915. De László sent five letters through the Dutch diplomatic mail bag at the behest of Adriana van Riemsdijk with the consent of her brother John Loudon, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. This led to the artist’s arrest and internment in September 1917.
In May 1918, after the break-down of his mental and physical health, the artist was granted permission by the Home Office to be released from Islington Internment Camp into the care of a nursing home in Ladbroke Gardens, Notting Hill. He was kept under strict house arrest but allowed to receive visits from his wife and children. He was permitted to paint in oil again having been restricted to pencil and watercolour while at Islington.
His case was heard by the Naturalisation Revocation Committee during a trial that lasted from 23-27 June 1919. All concerns expressed by the Advisory Committee were addressed and the artist Sir John Lavery, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Austen Chamberlain and Adriana van Riemsdyk appeared as character witnesses. The latter came from Holland despite being mortally ill. The Committee ruled that no disloyalty or disaffection had been proved and with his name cleared, his reputation restored, and his British citizenship confirmed, de László was finally able to resume his life and work.
The Japanese doll has descended in the same collection as the painting and was presented as an Imperial gift to First Lady Mrs Theodore Roosevelt by the Empress of Japan. It was in turn given to the artist’s wife Lucy during their visit to the White House in Washington D.C. in 1908, where de László painted President Roosevelt that year. The commission came from their mutual friend, Sir Arthur Lee of Fareham, who later gave his home Chequers to the nation for the use of future Prime Ministers.
John Adolphus de Laszlo was born in London 20 October 1912, the youngest of the five sons of Philip Alexius de László and his wife Lucy Madeleine Guinness. He was a favourite subject for his father, particularly during the war as he was still at home while his brothers were away at school. He was educated at King’s Mead Preparatory School, Seaford, Sussex, Lancing College and Balliol College, Oxford. He served with the RAF during the Second World War, leading the French Section of the Air Ministry in Paris from 1940 until 1943. He then moved to the Special Operations Executive, co-ordinating support for the French Resistance, later being awarded the Croix de Guerre (with Palm) and the Légion d'Honneur. He also served in Norway with the Norwegian Air Force, receiving the Haakon Freedom Cross after Norway's liberation. He was married three times and father of five children. He died in Mallorca in 1990.
We are grateful to Katherine Field for writing the catalogue entry for this portrait, which will be included in the Philip de Lászlócatalogue raisonné, currently presented in progress online: www.delaszlocatalogueraisonne.com.
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