Philip de László, P.R.B.A.

Sale, K&K Auktionen, Heidelberg, 18 May 2018, lot 144

Sale, Kiesselbach Auctions, Budapest, 17 December 2018, lot 100

Where acquired by the present owner

Vienna, Salon Pisko, Exhibition of Hungarian Art, 1903

Berlin, Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, 1904, no. 645

De László Trust Archive, no. 110923, Sitters’ Book I, f. 63: Freiherr Mumm von Schwarzenstein / 6.III 1903

Ludwig Hevesi, “Ungarische Kunst in Wien”, Pester Lloyd, 9 April 1903

Művészet, December 1913, p. 367, illustrated

Otto von Schleinitz, Künstler Monographien, no. 106, Ph A. von László, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Velhagen & Klasing), 1913, p. 28

De Laszlo realized this half-length portrait of Baron Alfons Mumm von Schwarzensstein in March 1903 in Vienna. Dressed in a fur-collared coat over formal court dress, the Baron wears the Order of the Red Eagle around his Neck with the Cross of a Knight of the Order of St. John and a sash of an unidentified order across his chest.  

The portrait is boldly inscribed with the sitter’s full name and position as well as the date and place it was painted: PHILIPPUS ALPHONSUS LIBER BARO / MUMM DE SCHWARZENSTEIN / GERM. IMPER.LEGAT. EXTRAORD./ ET MIN. PLENIPOT. APUD  SINAS / VINDOBONAE / MDCCCCIII / 10 MART. [Phillip Alphons Freiherr Mumm von Schwarzenstein / German Imperial Special Envoy / and Minister Plenipotentiary to China / Vienna / 1903 / 10 March].