Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)

Ildikó PANDÚR: The Role of Gyula Jungfer in Hungary's National Exhibition of 1885

honour of Mihály Munkácsy. Jungfer worked with Leó Fessler on the (old) Hall of Exhibitions (1877) in which this ball took place, as well as on the church in Bakáts tér (1878) and on the Budapest Opera House (1884). One of the best-known (solo) works by Fessler, who was born in Vienna but who settled in Budapest in 1878, was the Danubius Fountain formerly sited on Kálvin tér.46 The presentation, build and hand positions of its principal figure all recall those of the statue of the artist-smith (Fig. 10).

Another archival photo preserves a group of work exhibited in the Jungfer Pavilion in the Hall of Industry. The photo was taken by the Photography Company of the Budapest General National Exhibit, and a mounted copy was kept by the legal successor of the Jungfer works, The Metalworking

Fig. 8 Statue of a medieval artist-smith

Arts.43 Among the smaller works of applied art (they include fire-irons) that feature on the photograph can be recognised pieces similar to those in the Museum’s collection. More easily identifiable on the picture is the medieval-type wrought-iron sculpture (the attribution on the photograph is of help here). Made from beaten copper sheeting to a design by Leó Fessler, this is 193 cm in height and was used to embellish the gable of the Jungfer factory in Budapest’s Berzsenyi utca. It passed to the Museum of Applied Arts in 2006 (Fig. 8-9)f This is a unique memento from the history of the factory and in many respects a curiosity from the point of view of art history. The attire the figure was, in the view of Károly Pereházy on the basis of his research,45 inspired by the costume worn by Jungfer at the artists’ fancy-dress ball staged in 1882 in

Fig. 9 Statue of a medieval artist-smith on the fungfer factory building

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