Philip Alexius de László, P.R.B.A. Portrait of Sophica Jurgens-Roïdi, Countess...

Philip Alexius de László, P.R.B.A.
Budapest 1869 - 1937 London
Portrait of Sophica Jurgens-Roïdi, Countess Charles des Isnards

Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right de László / LONDON. 1919. VIII
217 x 107 cm ; 85⅜ by 42⅛ in.

Catalogue Note:
For his superb flamboyance and ability to flatter his sitters and capture the lustre of silk and sparkle of gemstones, the Hungarian Philip de László had few rivals, surpassed perhaps only by the American John Singer Sargent and Italian Giovanni Boldini. This elegant full-length portrait depicts Sophica (or ‘Sofica’), the twenty-seven year old daughter of the Secretary to George I of Greece, Nicolas Roïdi (1865-1919). Born in Athens on 5 October 1892 and raised in close proximity to the royal family of Greece she became a lady-in-waiting to Princess Nicolas of Greece. Whilst on a skiing holiday in St Moritz in 1918 she met Henricus Wilhelmus ‘Henri’ Jurgens (1892-1933) of Oss in the Netherlands and a year later they were married.

Although it is not known how or where de László came into contact with the Jurgens family the artist painted several portraits of various members, including Antonius Johannes Jurgens (1867-1945), Henri’s father. In August 1919 de László painted portraits of Henri and Sophica to celebrate their wedding, which had taken place on 21 June. The head-and-shoulders portrait of Sophica is inscribed: My wedding souvenir. To mark the occasion Jurgens also commissioned this full-length portrait – there is a photograph of Sophica sitting in front of the unfinished portrait in de László's studio (fig. 1).

After the wedding, Antonius Jurgens bought ‘Huize Carré’ in Hees for the young couple, which was remodelled and renamed ‘Villa Vreeland’. Henri was working in France so he and his wife moved to Montreux. The marriage did not last and they were divorced on 20 December 1928. In 1929 Sophica remarried, Charles, styled comte des Isnards (1876-1964), a Lieutenant-Colonel in the French army and Officer of the Legion of Honour and the recipient of the French and Belgian Croix de Guerre. She died in Paris on 21 January 1942. All but the present portrait were destroyed during the Second World War. It is the only full-length portrait de László painted for a Dutch client.

The de László archive contains two letters which indicate that the artist considered exhibiting Sophica’s portrait in his comprehensive London retrospective at Wildenstein’s in 1937 which became his last exhibition as he died a few days before it opened. Although it was not included in the show, the fact that de László intended to include it is a mark of the important place he felt it held in his oeuvre. It is certainly a magnificent example of the best of his portraiture, superbly capturing a moment of paused conversation between the sitter and the artist. The fabrics are well studied and the composition is considered with the placing of elements such as the jewelled buckle of her shoe and the pink roses leading the eye through the elongated pose of the sitter, set against a dark background which gives a feeling of the magnificence of Van Dyck.

We are grateful to the de László Archive Trust whose information has been used for this catalogue note, and for supplying permission to reproduce the photograph of the artist and sitter in his studio.

Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Beaussant-Lefèvre, Paris, 21 December 2011, lot 58.

Literature:
T. Grever and A. Heuft, De László in Holland, Dutch Masterpieces by Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937), Amsterdam-London, pp. 59, 60, 63, 66, 67, ill. no. 28;

The de Laszlo Archive Trust, The Catalogue Raisonné of Works by Philip de László (1869-1937) [online], cat. no. 2030.