Aloys Count Berchtold 1917

.


Three-quarter portrait standing, view from slightly sideways, his right arm resting on a marble column, left arm bent (largely hidden by uniform jacket). In field gray lieutenant Ulan uniform (possibly k.u.k. Ulan Regiment No.8).

JQAW# P_1917_050
Oil on canvas ca. 170 x 120 cm.
Signature: John Quincy Ɑdams 17
Unknown private collection France.

Aloys (Luis) Count Berchtold (1894 Buchlovice CZ - 1977 Vienna), son of foreign minister (1912-1915) Leopold Count Berchtold (1863-1942).
Born on 14.4.1894 in Buchlovice CZ, after attending school there, he studied law in Vienna. In 1914 he voluntarily enlisted as a recruit in the 6th Dragoner Regiment. After 1918 he served in the Czechoslavak Army (reserve). After the war he inhabited the baroque chateau Buchlovice and managed the family property there, which he inherited in 1942. Expelled and dispossessed in 1945, he moved to Vienna, where he died on 28.5.1977. Aloys "Luis" Berchtold remained unmarried and without descendents.

This officer's portrait is documented by the 1917 Adams exhibition at the Künstlerhaus (KH EL vol. 61 1916/17 #541), but did not appear in previous overviews of Adams works (Peyrer-Heimstätt, Schaffer) until now. The painting of the portrait probably coincided with the portrait of his prominent father (see cross-references). The painting remained in the possession of the sitter. After his death it was exported to France, where it is in an unknown private collection.
.

Cross-references

Exhibited

1917 Künstlerhaus Vienna, Exhibition John Quincy Adams No. 4

Literature

Marburger Zeitung October 7, 1914, p.4 (enlistment as recruit).

Provenance

1917-1977 Sitter.
1977 export to France (BDA export GEGIDF#122688), Unknown private collection, France.