Magyar Hírek, 1988 (41. évfolyam, 1-22. szám)

1988-02-19 / 4. szám

In the Hungarian section of this issue Péter Ruffy writes about John Paget, an English doctor, on the occasion of the recent publication in Hungarian by Helikon Publishers, Budapest of a selection of Paget’s 1839 book Hungary and Transylvania. It is edited by Sándor Maller, a noted authority on the subject.

Ruffy, who was also born in Transylvania, has for years shown an interest in John Paget’s (1808—1892) biography. He dug up his literary remains, his correspondence, indeed, he also succeeded in making contact with Paget’s descendants in Hungary and elsewhere.

He was able to show that Paget descended from both King Edward I and King Edward III. After graduating in medicine, Paget set out on the customary Grand Tour and in 1835 he met Polyxena, a niece of Baron Miklós Wesselényi, a Transylvanian Hungarian nobleman, at a ball in Rome. Love soon blossomed between the two young people and Paget followed Polyxena Wesselényi to Hungary and married her. That was the time of the Age of Reform, and Paget soon became acquainted with the intellectual leaders of the country: Count István Széchenyi, Count Lajos Batthyány and Baron Miklós Wesselényi. He bought an estate in Transylvania, settled there, learnt to speak Hungarian and soon became an ardent Hungarian patriot. During the 1848 — 49 Revolution he fitted out soldiers at his own expense, indeed, he also took part in the fighting as aidede-camp to General Bern. After Hungarians capitulated at Világos he migrated to England and helped to prel>are Lajos Kossuth’s journeys to England and America. Later —in 1855 — Paget returned to Transylvania and spent the rest of his life there. He brought up a son of a brother in England, as his own son in Transylvania. Claude Paget, whom Ruffy first met in 1938 at Radnót, Transylvania, then again, in 1962 in Oltáré, a Western Hungarian township, was a descendant of Oliver Claude Paget, he used the name Kolozs Paget,

The Teleki Library at Marosvásárhely

moved to Oltáré after the Second World War after returning from captivity in Russia. He became the headmaster of the village school and the Communist Party secretary of the local Búzakalász Cooperative Farm. Kolozs Paget maintained contact by correspondence with another Paget descendant: Dr Oliver Paget, who at that time was director of the Naturhistorisclies Museum in Vienna.

In the middle of the 19th century John Paget travelled right through Hungary and wrote his book Hungary and Transylvania. He presented an authentic picture of Hungary in the Age of Reform based on personal experience and discussions with the leading personalities of the time. It was twice published in English, reached four editions in German, and was also twice republished in English in America.

The treasures of the Christian Museum

It is always a pleasiue to write about the Christ ian Museum in Esztergom, which is beautiful collection of Hungarian and European works of art. The treasures of the museum include such works as altar-pieces by Master M.S., paintings by Tamás Kolozsvári and works of the early Italian renaissance. The event that gives particular timeliness to the article published in the Hungarian section of this issue on this museum was the recent opening of the new exhibition of the Church Treasury following sjjeeehesof Primate-Archbishop Páskai, the chairman of the Hungarian Bench of Bishops and Imre Pozsgay, General Secretary of the Patriotic People’s Front. The Treasury contains a collection of European goldsmith’s work including a 12th century Byzantine cloisonné enamel surrounded with an embossed and gilded silver frame; a late 15th century apostolic cross, the work of a Bolognese master; the Calvary of King Matthias Corvinus, an outstanding work of the

European goldsmith’s art; the chalice of Benedek Suky made for the cathedral of Gyulafehérvár in 1440, and other masterpieces.

The Christian Museum was established in 1875, and considerably enriched in 1916 by a bequest made bv Bishop Arnold Ipolyi. The Church Treasury, which is the richest in Hungary, has a much longer past. Its first inventory is dated from 1528.

A Hungarian-American painter

The article by János Bodnár in this issue gives a siu'vey of the life and art of the Hungarian — American painter László Dus. He was born in 1941 in Zalaegerszeg (West Hungary) but the family was forcibly removed from the town during the Rákosi-yeare and young Dus had to walk 10 miles every day to attend a village school. After 1956 the situation improved: Dus was first admitted to an art secondary school, than, in 1962 to the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, and studied under Aurél Bernáth, the noted painter of the period. After graduation he helped found the Zalaegerszeg artists’ settlement and his paintings were exhibited in Austria, France, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet LTnion in the years that followed. The Zalaegerszeg settlement was, however, dissolved and Dus decided to emigrate. In 1974 he went to Cleveland, and worked in a factory while his wife an interior designer, made technical drawings. He started to paint again in his spare time and in 1977 succeeded in selling a number of paintings to Leo Castelli, the art dealer. With a considerable sum of money in hand, he could begin painting again full time, Albert Scaglione, the owner of the Park West Galleries discovered one of Dus’s painting in a Detroit gallery and offered the artist him as a permanent arrangement. Scaglione introduced Dus’s painting to the American Art scene; some of bis work is on permanent exhibition in the Chicago Arts Institute, in the National Gallery of Fine Arts (Washington) and the New York Metropolitan Museum. “Even I myself can hardly believe that I have arrived

during in only a few years to where I am now” — said Dus pensively.

Herend porcelain

In her article on Herend porcelain Klára Zika first describes the founding of the factory. The factory, which was to became world famous, was founded in 1839 by Vince Stingl and János György Mayer. Mór Fischer, who is commonly credited with the foundation, purchased the already existing factory in 1840. There is no doubt, however, that the flourishing of porcelain manufacture at Herend is largely due to Mór Fischer. He was successful with his product as early as 1842 at the First Hungarian Industrial Fair. Lajos Kossuth himself commented favourably on Herend tableware. After that Mór Fischer began to imitate the porcelain of old and famous works at the prompting of Count Károly Esterházy to replace broken or lost pieces. Encouraged by the success of these experiments he began to produce complete table sets from the most beautiful of his patterns and received international acclaim for them. Later he made a set on a tomato-red basis on which the grass patterns and Chinese characters were left white as well as reciprocally coloured pieces of this, for the Esterházy chateau at Pápa. The large Herend porcelain plates and the doublewalled dishes he produced from eggshell porcelain further enhanced his reputation. The jteriod of boom was followed by financial difficulties in the eighties of the 19t.h century. In 1888 János Örley became the head of the porcelain factory. Hungarianstyle dishes were introduced on his suggestion. The motives borrowed from the patterns of folk-embroidery, the pieces well-designed in respect of colour and shape, remained popular products of the Herend works right to this day. The re-introduction of the old, grand styles and the Hungarian ornaments were later joined by figurines based on works by Hungarian sculptors.

ZOLTÁN HALÁSZ

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