Robert Tollast (

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

Robert Malcolm Priestly Tollast; 1915–2008), was a British painter. He was a court painter for the House of Habsburg.

Biography

Robert Malcolm Priestly Tollast was born on 15 September 1915 in Wandsworth, London. He studied

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

at the Westminster School of Art. During World War II, he was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps and joined the diplomatic service as an Attaché de Presse in the British embassies of Baghdad and Cairo. He resigned in 1948 to become a full-time portrait painter and in 1949 had his first one-man show in London and exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. A period of global travel was followed by ten years painting in the United States (New York and Washington D.C.) His exhibition at the Washington gallery was opened by the then British Ambassador, the Earl of Cromer, formerly Governor of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. In the early 1960s, he spent time in Cambridge doing portraits of college luminaries and also for local families. After he returned to England in 1976, Tollast divided his time among Switzerland, France (Paris) and Italy (Milan and Florence) and Austria (Vienna) with occasional visits to Germany. During long visits to South Africa, he painted three generations of the Oppenheimer family, among other prominent figures in industry. His work was exhibited in 1959 in the

Africana Museum Museum Africa or MuseuMAfricA (formerly known as the Africana Museum) is an historical museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa. History The museum was established in 1933, when the Johannesburg Public Library bought a large quantity of ...

(now MuseuMAfricA) in Newtown, Johannesburg. The list of Tollast's most interesting portrait commissions includes clients internationally prominent in the arts, sciences, industry and politics, of which one of the most notable is that of Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. This was the last official portrait, of which the sitter — notoriously difficult over portraits of himself — went on record to express his approval. Tollast's recent commission was to paint, in oil, all the partners of the partners of the Geneva private bank

Lombard Odier & Cie The Lombard Odier Group is an independent Swiss banking group based in Geneva. Its operations are organised into three divisions: private banking ( wealth management), asset management, and IT and back and middle office services for other fi ...

. He also works in watercolour and pastel and is a notably successful painter of children. At the time of his death, Tollast was royal court painter to the

Habsburg family The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

of Austria. His work is included in museum collection at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

in London.

References

External links

National Portrait Gallery page
2008 deaths 1915 births 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters 21st-century English male artists 21st-century English painters Alumni of the Westminster School of Art English male painters Court painters Painters from London {{England-painter-stub