K. Palágyi Sylvia szerk.: Balácai Közlemények 2008/10. (Veszprém, 2008)
KIRCHHOF, ANITA: The decorative system and reconstruction of the red dining room at Baláca - A balácai vörös ebédlő dekorációs rendszere és rekonstrukciója
survived fragment proves that here, too, like at Baláca the red picture field was preceded by a blue one. Similarly to Baláca, here, too, at the border of the red and blue picture fields there is wind-personification. 103 However, its elaboration considerably differs from that of the Baláca painting. At Balatonfüred the head is represented in a three-quarter view, though fitting into the direction of movement of the red picture field, it turns from the left to the right and shoots out its small "tongue" which is characteristic of wind-personifications. The painting of the imitated stucco treated here, that of the stucco ledge from the room No. 11. at Baláca and that of the stucco of the Balatofüred villa were made within the same period and it seems that the painters used the similar or same pattern book. Several facts, that is the sequence of picture fields, the topics of the scenes, the painting of the figures with identical colours and the figures appearing at identical places within the medallions support this idea. Those data which are not available at the stucco decoration of the Red Dining Room could be supplemented with the knowledge of the stuccos of the room No. 11. at Baláca and of the Balatonfüred villa. For example the direction of moving of the figures within the medallion and the direction of moving of figures in the picture fields were the same 104 or direction of the middle picture fields. The oneway procession of figures in the picture fields, the method to solve the problem of the scenes "moving" opposite to each other, the order of the alternation of the background colours of the picture bands, the connection between the topic of the scene and the background colour are identical on every stucco decoration. 105 Moreover, the upper fillet of the Balatonfüred stucco was decorated by alternating red and green ribbons and this motif can be found also on the columns bordering the candelabrums of the painting of the Red Dining Room. The only difference is that in the Red Dining Room the colours of the ribbons are red and blue. On the basis of my studies my opinion is that all stucco fragments, which are painted in every detail, and came to light from the excavations of Gy. Rhé and from the recent excavations, had decotared the walls of the Red Dining Room. According to my opinion the slight differences in the dimensions and the nuance-like differences in the background colours, as well as the differences in the quality of plaster on the surface are due to the hand-painting and to the work of several assistant painters. Similar differences can be seen on the fragments of the stucco ledge of the room No. 11. (Figs. 25-26), which, I suppose, had been completed every fragments of it within an other room. 106 Some quality differences are natural even in the work of skilled ornament painters. At the same time, as I mentioned above, the division of picture fields was different therefore the animals painted at the edges had to occupy a smaller space while within the longer middle field the painters had to represent larger animals with a wider and elongated body. (Figs. 6., 14., 15) Comparing the picture fields and scenes of the three stuccos it is conspicuous that the painted band and the dimensions of figures are larger at Balatonfüred than on the two stuccos from Baláca, while the dimensions of the two latter ones are similar to each other. Though it could be misleading that the painted surfaces of the stucco from the room No. 11. at Baláca and of those in the Balatonfüred villa are concave while the stucco of the Red Dining Room is on a flat surface. In some instances, for example at the medallions closing the picture fields in the Red Dinig Room it can be observed that the medallion was deformed to bring about the effect of a concave surface. 107 The medallion of the Balatonfüred stucco, too, is distorted, which most probably is due to the concave surface.
