Elena de Mier
- Née le 15 février 1887 à Mexico
- Décédée en 1977, à l'âge d'environ 89 ans
Parents
- Sebastián de Mier (1849 - 1916), ministre plénipotentiaire du Mexique en France à Neuilly en 1904
- Guadalupe Cuevas (1853 - )
Famille
- Mariée le 29 juillet 1908 à Neuilly-sur-Seine, avec Louis Subervielle (1880 - 1946), comte Subervielle, propriétaire, lieutenant d'artillerie, dont
Lieu d'habitation
- Bouray-sur-Juine, château de Mesnil-Voisin (location)
Notes
tableau : condesa Elena Mier de Subervielle, 1926
- Oil on canvas
- 92.3 x 74.2 cm (36.34 x 29.21 in.)
- de László / Paris XI
- Collection
- Private Collection
Half-length slightly to the left, head turned in three-quarter profile and looking to the right, wearing a black stole draped round her exposed shoulders, over a white lace camisole, her left hand resting on her waist and her right holding a closed fan
Oil on canvas, 92.3 x 74.2 cm [36 ⅓ x 29 ⅕ in.]
Inscribed lower left: de László / Paris XI
Private Collection
By the 1920s de László had established a considerable reputation among South American and Mexican sitters. Between 1910 and 1920, the social upheaval of the Mexican Revolution led many wealthy Mexican families to settle in Paris. Their motive differed from Argentine society who frequented Paris and London each year to spend their South American winter enjoying the European summer.
The artist painted four Mexican sitters in Paris: the Marquesa de Mohernando, née Lorenza Braniff Ricard [5161] in May 1922, and Concepción Corcuera de Verea [112027], the present portrait and an unidentified sitter who signed the artist’s Sitters’ Book as Rosa González P. [112247] in November 1926. Descendants of the sitter have suggested that Condesa Elena chose to be painted wearing her engagement ring and black stole as she felt the family jewels would date the portrait.[1]
Elena Mier Cuevas was born in Mexico City in 1887, daughter of Sebastián Mier Almendaro (1849-1916) of Puebla, Mexico and his wife Guadalupe Cuevas Rubio. Elena was their fourth child and had a brother, Bernardo, and two sisters, Leonor and Guadalupe. Sebastián Mier Almendaro had a distinguished diplomatic career. He was Mexican Ambassador in Great Britain from 1899 to 1901, in France from 1901 to 1903 and Special Ambassador to Persia from 1903 to 1904.
On 29 July 1908, Elena Mier Cuevas married her cousin, Luis Subervielle Mier (1880-1946) at Neuilly-sur-Seine in France. Her father-in-law, Artistides Subervielle Acebal was granted the hereditary Papal title of Count by Pope Leo XIII [4509] 23 July 1896. After their marriage Elena and Luis lived in Paris on Avenue Victor Hugo. There were three children of the marriage: Manuel (born 1909), Felipe (1910) and Diane (1911).
Condesa Elena served as a nurse in the First World War and was remembered as a devoted and caring mother by her descendants. Her husband Luis died in Paris 16 September 1946, aged 66.Elena died in Mexico, aged 92, having lived most of her adult life in Paris.
SMdeL 2021