Sz. Kürti Katalin: Munkácsy Mihály Krisztus-trilógiája (Budapest, 1989)

Adatok - Summary

Az archív felvételek reprodukcióit Berényi Zsuzsa (MNG, Adattár), F. Molnár Erzsébet (DM, Adattár), Nagy Imre (BMM, Adattár) és Jaksy László (NTF, Adattár) készítették. SUMMARY MIHÁLY MUNKÁCSY'S CHRIST TRILOGY No one, not even Munkácsy himself, saw the pieces of the Christ trilogy side by side. Katalin Sz. Kurd's book is the First attempt to present the three monumental biblical paintings together, describing the circumstances of their creation and reception and the venturous fate of the trilogy, with thorough documentation covering every minute detail. Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900) signed a contract for the trilogy with the art dealer and collector Carl Sedelmeyer in Paris in 1878. He painted Christ before Pilate(\%%\) and Golgotha(\&$4) partly under the influence of Renan's Life of Jesus. After a triumphal tour in Europe, Sedelmeyer took the First painting to the United States in 1886 (when Munkácsy was given an enthusiastic reception in New York), and the second one in 1887. John Wanamaker bought the two monumental paintings in 1887 and 1888, and kept them in his house in Jenkinstown. When a fire broke out, it was his first concern to save the paintings. Later they were transported to Philadelphia. The two biblical canvases were, for a long time, the pride of the Wanamaker Store built in 1911, where they were hung high up in the large hall in Lent and at Easter each year. The paintings returned to Europe only once, when they were exhibited and awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exposition of 1889. The last piece of the trilogy, Ecce Homo, was completed in 1896. Having toured Europe and America, it was exhibited at the Ernst Museum in Budapest in 1914. After 1910 there was a revival of the Munkácsy cult in Hungary, and the idea of uniting the trilogy arose. John Wanamaker was showing an inclination to sell the two paintings, but the First World War put an end to the negotiations. In 1916 Frigyes Déri, an enthusiastic art collector living in Vienna, bought Ecce Homo back from an Anglo-American consortium. After his death in 1924, the painting, with the rest of his bequest, got to the Déri Museum of Debrecen. Later the Hungarian state purchased the half-size reductions of Christ before Pilate and Golgotha (painted by Munkácsy at the request of Sedelmeyer while working on the monumental canvases). Both are now in the Hungarian National Galery of Budapest. The American paintings of the Christ trilogy have come to a new stage in their adventurous story. In 1988 the two gigantic biblical pieces were put up for auction in New York. Christ before Pilate was sold for $ 60,000 and it passed into the ownership of a Canadian collector. Golgotha was bought for S 47,500 by Julian Beck, the Hungarian owner of the Pannonia Gallery in New York. Thus the three pieces of the trilogy have been scattered and any possibility for them to get together again has been lost.