There is an intriguing label attached to the back of this portrait – ‘Ernst Museum Auction’.  This suggests that it was once the property of Lajos Ernst, who was a noted Hungarian art critic and collector.

During his life Ernst collected 6,500 articles from Hungarian history and art and founded a museum in 1912 to house his collection (the Ernst Museum in Budapest, which still exists today).  An auction was held there twice a year between 1917 and 1937.