Mrs. Joseph Grafton Minot and her son, Grafton
Mrs. Joseph Grafton Minot and her son, Grafton
- portraits
- boys
- women
- 19th century European
Philip de László was born Fülöp Laub in Pest before it was joined with Buda in 1873. He and his brother took the name de László as a gesture of patriotism in 1891. Though Jewish by birth, de László elected to convert to the Protestant, and then the Anglican church, as part of his commitment to his Irish-born wife-to-be, Lucy Guinness. By the time he painted this portrait, the talented de László was already receiving major portrait commissions from the aristocracy of Europe. Two years later, as a prosperous artist of substantial means, he married Lucy Guinness. They would eventually settle in London with their five sons. De László became a naturalized British citizen in 1914, just in time to protect his oldest son from the obligation of military service in Hungary.
Although less well known in this country, de László was something of a celebrity portraitist in his time. Naturally gifted, he chose to emulate the great portraitists of the European tradition, such as Anthony van Dyck, Joshua Reynolds, and Sir Thomas Lawrence. His fluency in the rhetoric of portraiture made him a favorite among the elite of Britain. As the portraitist of royalty, he received nearly two dozen orders conferred upon him by various monarchs and presidents, including being named Member of the Royal Victorian Order by King Edward VII in 1909. In spite of his fame and fortune, de László fell victim to the xenophobia that gripped Britain upon the eve of World War I. Because he was both Jewish and of Hungarian descent, he was interned as a possible spy and traitor in May 1917, only regaining his freedom a little more than a year later when the case against him was dismissed.
Our portrait is of a Mrs. Joseph Grafton Minot and was gifted to the Museum by her son, Grafton W. Minot, pictured here when he was just four years old. Mrs. Minot was a resident of Santa Barbara and passed away here at the age of 92. As a relatively early work, the portrait is very carefully executed, describing fabrics meticulously,
and capturing the sitters at their most appealing. De László's brushwork would become more gestural and looser as he matured, though his mastery as a draughtsman was the touchstone for his ability to capture faithful likenesses of his many distinguished sitters.
Here is a more comprehensive account of our painting from the online catalogue raisonné on the artist, with further details on the sitters and the commissioning of the portrait:
