Art Image Details
Florence Kling Harding
| Title: | Florence Kling Harding |
|---|---|
| Artist: | László de Lombos, Philip Alexius de |
| Date of Work: | 1921 |
| Medium/Support: | oil on canvas |
| Measurements: | 32 x 22 in (81.3 x 55.9 cm) |
| Inscribed: | Yes |
| Inscription Type: | signed and dated |
| Inscription Location: | lower right |
| Inscription Text: | de László / .The White House. / 1921. July 8. |
| Acquisition Information: | Gift of The Harding Memorial Association |
| Acquisition Number: | 971.715.1 |
| Credit Line: | The White House Historical Association (White House Collection) |
| Scholar's Notes: |
"The portrait of Mrs. Harding came about somewhat by chance. The artist had begun to paint the President at the White House on July 8. Mrs. Harding, however, was 'compelled to interrupt the sitting,' according to a chatty account in the Boston Sunday Post on Christmas Day. Continued the writer, a family friend: "'. . . . During their conversation, de László, unknown to her, hastily sketched her as she conversed and listened to her husband. From this sketch he painted her portrait.' . . . ". . . The contours of the face are kindly handled. . . . The unusually dark gray ground throws the light-toned head into strong relief, while the abstract thin plumes of white paint at the left echo the curvilinear brushwork in the head and effectively balance the off-center placement of the unsuspecting sitter." |
| Source of Scholar's Notes: | Kloss, William, et al. Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride. Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, 2008. |
| Page Number(s) in Source: | 254 |
| People: | Harding, Florence |
| Categories: | All Works of Art/ Artist's Nationality/ Hungarian, Portraits of First Ladies |
| Type: | portraits |
| whitehousehistory.org: | |
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