Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937)

This is a preparatory oil sketch for a formal full-length portrait of the Marquess of Reading, completed in 1927. The finished portrait, commissioned for Delhi’s Government Buildings, proved too large to hang in its destined place, and had to be cut down to a three-quarter length portrait. It is currently untraced, and was the third portrait de László executed of a Viceroy of India, having previously painted Lord Minto and Lord Hardinge.