Buzási Enikő szerk.: In Europe' Princely Courts, Ádám Mányoki, Actors and venues of a portraitist's career (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2003/1)
Enikő Buzási: ÁDÁM MÁNYOKI (1673-1757) Conclusions from a Monograph
terms of painterly achievement. What deviates from the customary representation developed in the 17 th century is the faint suggestion of the interior, a rare addition to the half-length portraits of that time. The only known Mányoki portrait painted in Hungary that has direct typological connections to tendencies in Western portraiture is the picture of János Podmaniczky's children (cat. no. 71). The prototype of the dual portrait of children against the background of a park can be found in English and Dutch portrait painting around 1700, but the direct prototype for the compositional details is the pair of portraits of the archduchesses Maria Theresa and Maria Anna painted in Vienna a year earlier. In the pioneering dual portrait with its intimate atmosphere, perfectly new in Hungarian portraiture of that time, the clasped hands of the children is only one of the signs of family coherence. The other is the gesture of young János Podmaniczky, pointing to the portrait of the parents, intended to be on the left of the children in the family series. This is also enhanced by the slightly turned posture of the two children, which unites the series in one composition and creates the emotional harmony of the three portraits. The main aim of Mányoki's stay in Hungary was to regain his family property. When he failed, he tried to obtain new estates with the support of his patrons. Pál Ráday, among others, gave his personal assistance. In Ádám Mányoki: Maria Anna of Austria, 1723 München, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (cat. no. 64) Ádám Mánvoki: János and Judit Podmaniczky, 1724 Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (cat. no. 71) early 1730, with the intervention of the president of the Hungarian Treasury, György Erdődy, Mányoki and his brother received a new estate from the palatine near to Ráday's estate in Nógrád County. However, owing to protests upon their taking possession of the estate (perhaps by the previous owner) they failed to acquire it legally even via court procedures. Mányoki's works painted at home appear closely connected to this process. His works known mostly from source literature suggest that his contact with his clients was governed by his efforts to acquire property. He almost exclusively made portraits of influential persons and their families who could lend him assistance in attaining the goal of his return: the repossession of his family lands or later the acquisition of new estates. Some of these people were incumbents of offices that had direct influence on the land acquisition process, which he was involved with through his entire stay at home. He portrayed these people in return for support and not payment, for they were all connected with the land acquisition procedure at some point: the palatine Miklós Pálffy, treasury president György Erdődy, royal councillor Pál Jeszenák, assessor Miklós Bárányi on the seven-member Court, and Antal Szikszói, chief administrator of Nógrád county. He had only one client, Imre Esterházy, the archbishop of Esztergrom, whose commission, known from a written source, suggests he was a patron who laid emphasis on quality, on artistic merit. Of the scant information on Mányoki's work in a genre other than
