Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)

Magdolna LICHNER: Data on Gyula Benczúr's Collection of Textiles

Katalin: Benczúr Gyula. Budapest, 1960 fill. 16]; Wreath for Mother, 1870s, owner unknown, published in Telepy, 1977 [El. 15], etc.). His notions were much closer to those of Hans Makart, and in many respects to those of Böcklin; both influenced him in his choice of themes and in his painting methods. By way of an example mention may be made of his 1911 painting The Death of Cleopatra (Déri Museum, Debrecen, Inv. No.: Df 206 [HNG Benczúr exhibition, 1958, Cat. No. 103]; photograph published in Felvinczy: op. cit., p. 30) and of Makart's painting on the very same theme made after 1873 (published in Streit, A. Katalog des Künstlerischen Nachlasses und der Kunst- und Antiquitäten-Sammlung von Hans Makart. Wien, 1885, Heft 25.), which show a conspicuous likeness, and it will be sufficient to refer to Böcklin's Panic, as an analogy of which Benczúr's similarly entitled work may have been made. This, too, is in Debrecen's Déri Museum. 16 Felvinczy Takács: op. cit., p. 9 and Homer: op. cit., pp. 23-25; Mihalik: op. cit., pp. 20-22. According to Mihalik, Benczúr made his first visit to France together with Makart (op. cit., p. 22). 17 Széchy: op. cit, Felvinczy Takács: op. cit., p. 8f, Berzeviczy, Albert: Benczúr emlékezete (Remembering Benczúr), Akadémiai Értesitő, 393-396, füzet 1922, p. 156, Mihalik: op. cit., p. 20 18 For the collection belonging to Makart (who died young, at the age of only forty-four) see Streit, A.: Katalog des Künstlerischen Nachlasses und der Kunst- und AntiquitätenSammlung von Hans Makart. Wien, 1885. For the fashion see Mündt, Barbara: Historismus. Kunstgewerbe zwischen Biedermeier und Jugendstil. München, 1981, the chapter "Die Kunst im Hause': Iimeneinrichtung", p. 70-81. v The passion for collecting fashionable in Munich studios in the 1870s mentioned by Károly Lyka (who himself was there) with no small degree of malice can is shown by two examples: Pál Böhm, who collected ethnographical pieces, and Ferenc Eisenhut, who collected Oriental artefacts. Both artists used their pieces in their compositions. Lyka: op. cit., pp. 14-16 ' The greatest recognition Benczúr received in Hungary was a letter from Ágoston Trefort, asking him to undertake master-courses for painters in the Hungarian capital (the letter is dated 24 January 1883; HNG Archives 22595/1986), a request he ' faithfully granted right up to his death. For Benczúr's decorations and prizes see Szendrey - Szentiványi: Magyar képzőművészek lexikona (Encyclopaedia of Hungarian Artists), 1915, pp. 163ff. Some examples: The Francis Joseph I "Pro litteris et artibus" medal in 1887; a state gold medal in Berlin in 1886; gold medals in Vienna in 1887 and 1888, a gold medal in Munich in 1888, etc. See also Mihalik: op. cit., p. 28f, which mentions - among other things — that he was awarded a 'Médaille d'honneur' in Antwerp in 1894, that he won a grand prix and gold medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900, that in the year of the Hungarian Millennium (1896) he was awarded the Cross of the Order of St Stephen, Third Class, that the king appointed him a member of the Hungarian Parliament's Upper House in 1906, etc. 21 The speeches delivered at the commemorative exhibition which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts in 1921 were especially fulsome in their praises of this. See the reminiscences of Zsolt Beöthy, Károly Lyka and Róbert Nádler (Békéscsaba: Tevan Nyomda, 1921, pp. 15, 19, 30 22 Gyula Benczúr Commemorative Exhibition, HNG, 1958; the introduction to the catalogue was written by Katalin Telepy. See p. 9 and Telepy: op. cit. (1960), p. 11 23 MI, 1926, p. 46. The same idea is repeated in MI, 1925, p. 191 24 Lyka: op. cit., p. 29 25 In László Hunyadi'

s Farewell, for example. See Felvinczy Takács, Zoltán: op. cit., p. 9. "Burnt green earth, asphalt and Van Dyck brown were his favourite colours". * Dubary pictures, Felvinczy, p. 12; Homer, p. 30 27 Homer, p. 21; Felvinczy, p. 10. Picture: Bodnár, Éva: Kard és ecset. Történelmi képek a Magyar Nemzeti Galériában (Sword and Brush. Historical Paintings in the Hungarian National Gallery). Budapest: Corvina, 1987, 111. 31. HNG Inv. No.: 78.130 T 28 Felvinczy, p. 11. The picture is currently in a private collection in America. Measurements: 145 X 218 cm 29 MAA. Inv. No. 16.207. The author would like to thank Gábor Bellák of the Hungarian National Gallery for drawing her attention to this similarity. 30 MAA Inv. No. 16.180