Auguste Victoria, Queen of Portugal, in exile, a study 1915

Philip Alexius de László painted this study of Auguste Victoria, Queen of Portugal, in exile, using fluid brushstrokes and a muted palette. The queen emerges from a murky background, and I imagine de László circling the canvas, adding a dab of grey here, a stroke of brown there, feeling his way through the painting. There’s something really intimate about how the colours blend together so softly. Look at how the strokes of paint coalesce to form the queen’s hands, resting delicately in her lap, fingers outstretched in a gesture of gentle resignation. I feel the weight of history in those hands. De László was a prolific portraitist, and you see echoes of artists like John Singer Sargent, who similarly captured the likenesses of the European elite. But de László’s work has a unique quality, a sensitivity that speaks to the nuances of human experience. We all learn from each other and push each other, don't we? It's a beautiful chain of influence. Painting is about that kind of conversation, isn't it? It's this constant back and forth, where nothing's ever really finished.