Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 20. (Budapest, 2001)

Zsuzsa GONDA: Walter Crane's Visit to Budapest in the Context of Museums' Acquisitions

history of the Department of Prints and Drawings in the Museum of Fine Arts by Pál Majovszky and his donations.

37 Majovszky, a councillor for the Ministry of Culture, began to collect modern prints, mainly by English and French masters, in the early 1900s. The works he donated to the Museum were exhibited in 1914. This collection well complemented Térey's acquisitions mentioned above.

38 A lucky turn in his finances enabled Majovszky to reorient his collecting policies. With the guidance of Simon Meiler, who was the keeper of the collection at the time, he began, in the early 1910s, to purchase drawings, which cost considerably more than buying prints. From the very beginning, he made his acquisitions for the Museum, but he did not manage to achieve his ambitious plans of creating a collection with at least one work representing each of the foremost masters of the 19th century. His goals are best represented by the masterpieces of the French school. The small group of 19

th century English drawings was also enlarged; these additions included works by Bone, Bonington, Brangwyn, Burne-Jones, Rossetti and Whistler. The body of English works has not been enlarged to any significant degree since the drawings of the Majovszky collection were transferred to the museum in 1935. To date, the English drawings comprise the smallest section of the Department of Prints and Drawings, and more than a century after Crane's Budapest exhibition, it can still be said that, in terms both of quality and quantity, with his 5 drawings his is the best represented work of all the English masters in Budapest.