Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 32. (Budapest, 2018)

Miklós GÁLOS: An Antonio Tempesta Rediscovered in the Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest

2. Painting by Antonio Tempesta in the condition in which it was discovered in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, photo: Miklós Gálos

The Budapest work has been displayed not only in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts but also in a temporary exhibition.12

2. 2016—another Tempesta in Budapest

In January 2016, the writer of this study had the opportunity to experience what Höllrigl had ninety years earlier. The location was not the Hungarian National Museum, but rather the Museum of Applied Arts of the same city. My colleagues and I were emptying the storage area of the museum’s former Varia Collection. In the corner of the room, which had already been freed of artwork, stood a tall cabinet. From its top, we removed

a dusty cardboard box inscribed with the words ‘glass painting not inventoried’.

It is difficult to describe the feeling of opening that box and discovering a shattered picture in a rather oddly shaped, broken frame.13 (Fig. 2) The frame was in fact a double frame, with a rectangular outer part and another inserted into it. The section cut out to display the image was composed of two vertical ovals, which were joined by a section slightly curved at the top and bottom. At first glance the black material used for the frame appeared to be ebony. Traces of inlays could be seen around the frame and in the corners and centre of the insert. The negative patterns showed vines interspersed with pome9