Rózsa György: The Palace of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

IV. The first floor

Mór Than (1828—1899) painted several of the same themes on the frieze of the National Museum's staircase in 1876 as Lotz in the Academy. Although Than did not have such abundant means of artistic expression at his command as Lotz did, who, among others, worked with him in the Museum as well, he used fewer figures in his compositions, and on several occasions his graphic and pictorial solutions also left something to be desired, nevertheless, as far as ideological unity is concerned, he created something superior to the paintings of the Academy. The formal solution of the frescoes proves Lotz's outstanding craftsmanship. The harmony of his bright colours unites cheerfully the otherwise unrelated figures and events. The repoussoir-like still-lifes in the foreground increase the depth of space. The same purpose is served by the cleverly distributed shadows, falling according to the actual positioning of the pictures. The low horizontal line is also a consequence of the actual high position of the paintings. The artist found the proper balance between illusion of reality and decorative simplification. The composition, later both in respect of its subject and its origin, is even lighter and more picturesque. Lotz painted the allegory of Science and Poetry on the ceiling of the Assembly Hall in two octagonal frames. Science is represented by a veiled female figure writing in a book, accompanied by a genius with a torch. Poetry is symbolized by a winged, rising figure holding a lute, followed by Amor and Psyche, the personnifiers of inspiration. In the five lunettes above the windows Lotz painted, over and above his commission and free of charge, the allegorical representatives of the five classes of the Academy in a form similar to Michelangelo's Sybillas in the Sistine Chapel. The chief figure of each composition is a women seated, embodying a main discipline, while the monochrome subordinate characters refer to related disciplines. Proceeding left to right they follow in this sequence: 1. The main figure, Natural Science, accompanied by Chemistry and Physics. 2. Mathematics with Astronomy and Geography. 3. Literature, that is, Epic Poetry with Lyrical Poetry and Drama. 4. Clio, representing Historiography, with Archaeology and Philology. 5. The main figure of Law and Political Science accompanied by Diplomatics and Rhetorics. * 25