Hungarian Heritage Review, 1990 (19. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1990-01-01 / 1. szám
Hungarian Contributions to World Civilization- by Dr. Francis S. Wagner PAINTING - Part I The art of painting miniatures was in vogue in Western and Centra! Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Hungary was no exception. Its codex literature preserved beautiful samples of miniature painting. Ecclesiastical art as well, such as panels of altars in churches demonstrated a high artistic level of this genre. No wonder that the country’s greatest Gothic painter, Master M.S., appeared on the scene and enjoyed success as early as the onset of the sixteenth century. His art was firmly rooted in Hungarian soil and was superior to that of most contemporary painters in craftsmanship, richness of imagination and realistic approach. One of his paintings (Visitation, 1506) is housed in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, and four others (The Agonv in the Garden; Christ Carrying the Cross; Crucifixion, and Resurrection, 1506) are in the Christian Museum at Esztergom. It was a custom, chiefly during the years of Turkish occupation, for gifted young men to leave Hungary to complete their studies abroad. It was the case of Jakab Bogdány (1660-1724). Born at Eperjes (now Presov, Czechoslovakia), he studied in Vienna and in the Netherlands. From 1690 on Bogdány lived in England; he died in London as a court painter. Bogdány excelled in painting birds and still lifes of flowers and fruit. His paintings were brought by royalty the world over and are now exhibited in the Hampton Court Palace; Kew Palace, the National Museum of Stockholm, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, among others. János Spillenberg (1628, Kassa-1679) was also a disciple of tne Baroque school of painting. Although he spent most of his creative life abroad working in Venice and Bavaria he always called himself Pictor Hungaricus, Vertumnus and Pomona, a masterpiece of his, is in the Dresden Gallery. One of the supreme talents jn eighteenthcentury Baroque portrait painting was Adám Mányoki (1673-1757). Mányoki studied painting at Lüneburg and Hamburg with the famous German painter Scheitz. Appointed official portrait painter of the Berlin Court in 1703, Mányoki worked in this capacity until 1707. In 1709 he returned to his native Hungary and was court painter to Ferenc Rákóczi II until 1711, the year of the defeat of the Rákóczi-led War of Independence (1703-1711), when he again left Hungary. The years 1713 to 1723 found him working in Dresden and Warsaw as court painter. In 1723 Mányoki once again returned to Hungary to paint portraits of Hungarian aristocrats. In 1731 the artist returned to Dresden where he resumed the position of court painter until his death. Adám Manyoki’s Portrait of Ferenc Rákóczi and his Self - Portrait as a Young Man bear the distinction of being ranked among the most piominent portraits of eighteenth-century Europe. During the first naif of the last century two characteristics of the development of art in Hungary were salient. Firstly, artists rallied behind the concept of patriotism and at the same time they caught up with the progress of the arts in the most developed countries of Western Europe. The most popular and visible artist of that age was Károly Markó the Elder (1791-1860), a highly successful landscape painter (Visegrád, oil painting, 1825-1830); The Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld), oil painting, 1853) whose pictures turned up in the collections of Europe and the United States. Miklós Barabás (1810 - 1898) specialized in portrait painting (Ferenc Liszt, oil painting; M me István Bittó, oil painting, 1874), likewise József Boros (1821 -1883), whose National Guard (Nemzetőr, 1848) was the most popular picture of that time. Bertalan Székely (1835 - 1910) and Viktor Madarász (1830 - 1917) set an entirely new tone in the country’s art movement. With outstandingly great talent both immortalized tragic scenes from the nation’s past. The Bewailing of László Hunyadi by Viktor Madarász was exhibited in France at the famous Paris Salon and in 1861 was awarded the highest French artistic prize: the Gold Medal of the State. His Zrínyi ana Frangepán in Prison is regarded by some critics as the most representative work of Hungarian historical painting. Bertalan Székely also devoted his talent to historical scenes (Ladislaus V and Czilley; The Women of Eger, etc.) and garnered great success. Historical painting in this superior tradition was continued by Sándor Wagner (1838 - 1919), who was a master of the Munich Academy. His most famous painting is The Self-Sacrifice of Titus Dugovics. Károly Lotz (1833-1904) drew his inspiration and subjects from quite different sources, as illustrated by his Sunset (oil painting) and The Muse (oil painting from the 1890’s). His versatile talent is evident in Lotz’ numerous murals in churches and public buildings (Aurora and Apollo, murals on the ceiling of the Budapest State Opera House, 1882 - 1884). Mihály Zichy (1827 - 1906) had the most colorful career among Hungarian painters. He was among the first pupils of painter Giacomo Marastoni (1804 - 1860) in Pest. In 1844 Zichy left Pest for Vienna where he joined Waldmüller’s private art school. In 1847 his oil painting, The Lifeboat, scored much spectacular success that Zichy was invited immediately to St. Petersburg, Russia as the drawing master of Princess Jelena Pavlovna. Then from 1859 on, with the exception of a few years which he spent in Paris and Budapest, Zichy was the official painter to the Russian Imperial Court. He worked primarily in water colors and favored pencil sketches. Zichy brilliantly illustrated the works of the literary giants Goethe, Lermontov, Imre Madách, János Arany, and Sándor Petófi. His graphics and paintings housed in Hungarian and Russian galleries still attract those visitors who enjoy works of the Romantic style. The group of the first really modern Hungarian painters includes such masters as Mihály Munkácsy, László Paál, Pál Szinyei Merse and Géza Mészöly.- continued next page 28 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW JANUARY 1990
