Gosztonyi Ferenc - Király Erzsébet - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2002-2004. 24/9 (MNG Budapest, 2005)
NEW ATTRIBUTIONS - Ádám Mányoki: Still Life with Peaches, 1721 (Enikő Buzási)
convincing signature, this would imply that the artist had visited the imperial city even earlier, and he might have spent some time there. The marketable genre and subject-matter of the still life with peaches (which might have had a counterpart due its one-sided composition) suggest that Manyoki painted the work, whether on commission or to be sold, as a means of earning some money. A question still to be answered is whether Mányoki, as a 'visiting master' in the still-life genre, had painted from life or used a prototype. The peaches and green pears, the green melon peeking from behind, and the bright red birthwort, heaping from the carefully painted wicker basket could all be found in the orchards of Central Europe, and in this combination mainly in August and early September. Thus it seems straightforward to assume that the work was painted from life, but it cannot be excluded that Mányoki followed the example of another painter in his choice of picture type. He could not have found his prototype in Vienna, however, because no one there was known for composing still lifes with fruit in landscapes, mingled with elements of classic architecture. This type of composition more readily brings to mind Mányoki's contemporaries from Upper Hungary and Transylvania who had made their way to England, such as Jacob Bogdány and his son-in-law and epigone, Tobias Stranover. In particular, we think of the latter, because he is presumed to have worked in North German areas on several occasions, given that he supposedly had an apprenticeship there and a large number of his works are held in German collections. 4 It is also possible that he had personal relations with Mányoki at some undetermined time, a claim that is supported by the fact that Mányoki's humble collection of pictures contained two still lifes with grapes by Stranover. 5 NOTES 1 For the most recent monographic study of Mányoki, see Enikő Buzási: Adam Mányoki (1673-1757), Monographie und Oeuvrekatalog. Budapest, 2003. The data and literature on the works mentioned are as follows: Woody Landscape with Stream and Hilly Path, Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Kupferstichkabinett, signed (Buzási 2003, pp. 16, 318, cat. no.: A. 223); The Penitent Mary Magdalene, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (Buzási, 2003, pp. 170, 382, cat. no.: B. 337); works in the estate inventory include: Maria Dolorosa, The Beheading of Holofernes, The Penitent Mary Magdalene, A Biblical Scene with the Figures of Jesus and Mary, Flower-piece (Buzási, 2003, pp. 170, 214, 318-319, cat. no.: A. 224-A. 228). 2 See especially the portrait of Count Georg Wilhelm Werthern (1719) signed and dated on its back (Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest); for a photo of the signature, see Buzási, 2003, p. 222. For its date and bibliography ibid. pp. 302-303, cat. no.: A. 165. 3 Both pictures are held by the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich; both are dated and signed on the front, see Buzási, 2003, pp. 161-163, 271-272, 274, cat. no.: A. 96, and cat. no.: A. 104. 4 For recent studies on Bogdany and Stranover, see Miklós Rajnai: Jacob Bogdani 1660-1724. Exh. Catalogue, Richard Green, London, 1989; Miklós Rajnai: Tobias Stranover 1684-1756. Annales de la Galerie National Hongroise 1991, pp. 175-179; Jane Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, vol. 4, London, 1996, p. 232 (Bogdány); SAUR - Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon. Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, vol. 12. München, Leipzig, 1996, p. 240 (Bogdány). Stranover's works are held in the following German collections: Schwerin, Staatliches Museum; Hamburg, Kunsthalle; Ahrensburg, Schloßgalerie; Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. 5 See Buzási, 2003, p. 214.
