Goda Gertrud: Izsó Miklós, 1831-1875 (Miskolc, 1993)

Summary In the middle of the 19th century, Hungary as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy lived behind the times in feudal-social circumstances. The country gathered its forces fighting for independence and progress. The flame of revolution darts high in Hungary at Pest (Budapest) the 15th March 1848, it was the sign fot the beginning. The blodless revolution soon went over to a one-year-lasting fierce struggle. The year of hopeful efforts for „The Saint Liberty" is concidered until today as the most glorious period of Hungarian history. To the defeat a terrible revendication and a long period of Austrian absolutism, the paralysing of the economy and social life has followed. The fate of the young intelligentsia was sealed; emigration, exile, hiding and at anyway silence. Among those circumstances an official art life has no possibilities. Public buildings, monuments could be only created from patriotic gifts - not officially ones. But those, who worried for the destiny of the country, the bests of the nation were keen to keep the national consciousness alive with the help of allegorical themes, with evocation of the glorious past. People could well understand it through the music of F. Liszt or F. Erkel and the poetry and novels of J. Arany and M. Jókai. Later painting found this way to express the ideas by symbols, the artists gained strength and knowledge in the artistic centers as Munich, Paris and so Hungarian national painting was born. The first line in time were V. Madarász, B. Székely, Gy. Benczúr and later followed by the great talent M. Munkácsy. On the field of sculpture the task to raise Hungarian fine arts to an European level, was this of Miklós Izsó. Izsó Miklós was born in Borsod county at Disznóshorváti, a little village on the slopes of the Bükk-mountains - today in honour of its famous son it is called Izsó-falva. His father Joseph Izsó was an impoverished nobleman who became a clothblue-dyer craftman, his mother Esther Szatmári - issued from a big protestant family, according the first born son Miklós - but his younger brother Joseph the actor - were brought up at Miskolc and Sárospatak protestant colleges. At the age of 17 the 20th February 1849 he joined the army and as a „honvéd" lieutenant he fought 19 battles with the courage of a lion. Unless the sacrifices of the braves the war of independence was defeated, and he had to hide with help of his relatives. First he learned marble carving from a master called Jakowetz, later from the best master sculpter of the classicistic time István Ferenczy (1792-1856). From Ferenczy, who learned in Italy the marble carving, Izsó was able to acquise the knowledge. He arrived with false papers to Vienna in 1857 to follow through his education. As he was exceptionally strong in body he could begin to work at the workshop of Hans Gasser (1817-1868), he was soon appreciated thank to his diligency and skill. The famous artist Gasser in Vienna charged him to carve in marble the portrait of count István Széchényi (1859), this commission was ac-