Folia historica 23/1

I. Tanulmányok - Papp Júlia: „Ob Hungariam pacis et belli artibus illustratam"

in Hungary too. It could become a fundamental resource for researchers who study the different views of history reflected in book illustrations. The present study has the same objective since it analyses the interpretations of history reflected in illustrations in publications from the 18

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1 century: the first is the Corpus Iuris Hungarici published at Nagyszombat in 1751, the second is the source publication titled Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum veteres ... (Vindobonae 1746-1748. Volumes I—III.) written by the Austrian historian scientist Johann Georg Schwandtner, who belonged to the circle of Matthias Bel, and the third is the Notitia Hungáriáé novae geographico historica (Viennae 1735-1742) by Matthias Bel. The illustration series of the Corpus Iuris created in the press of the Jesuits in Nagyszombat is homogeneous and consistent as regards form and content. From the engravings which mix the traditions of the imago and the história, i.e. the portrait and the depiction of history, a consequent interpretation of history typical of the counter-reformation reveals itself, which is different from the earlier Hungarian traditions of depiction and the view of history found in the Nádasdy Mausoleum (1664) that was used as an iconographical archetype. The illustration material in the historical publication of Bél and Schwandtner is more incidental and accidental: the form of historic allegory which had been popular since the Renaissance in Europe began to spread with this up-to-date historical publication which started the systematic collection and publication of data and recourses related to the history of the country in the first part of the 18

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1 century. The history of the nation does not evolve from the series of the portraits of kings and rulers as before but from the presentation of literary and historical toposes related to the nation. The so-called Allegories of Historiography also play an important role and emphasize the importance of recording the events of history which immortalize the heroic and martial virtues of the nation. The two source publications - especially the Scriptores - use the traditional types of book illustrations like illustrations for chronicles, historical allegories, depictions of ancient objects of archeology, vedutas of towns, maps decorated with allegorical drawings etc. The works created by the illustrator of Scriptores, a coppcrplatc engraver from Nuremberg called Andreas Nunzer show sensitiveness to the grotesque and give evidence of a rich pictorial phantasy especially in the case of initials that depict genre-paintings and vedutas. 169