Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937)

The present portrait is a preparatory study for a portrait of the sitter wearing the uniform of the Garde du Corps of the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm. He is also wearing the order of the Golden Fleece. De László was a close friend of the sitter and referred to him as, “one of the most generous and intelligent men I have ever met.”

Max Egon zu Fürstenberg was born at Schloss Lana bei Pürglitz in Bohemia (now Lány/Krivoklát, Czech Republic) on 13 October 1863, the eldest of the two sons of Prince Maximilian-Egon zu Fürstenberg (1822-1873), head of the secondary, Bohemian line of the family, and his wife, Leontine Countess von Khevenhüller-Metsch (1843-1914).