Mikó Árpád szerk.: Reneissance year 2008 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/1)

PÉTER FARBAKY, ÁRPÁD MIKO, ENIKŐ SPEKNER, KORNÉL SZOVÁK, ISTVÁN TRINGLI, ANDRÁS VÉGH: Matthias Corvinus, the King. Tradition and Renewal in the Hungarian Royal Court, 1458-1490

of another type was probably a painting held in the imperial collections in Vienna. The same family of likenesses includes a painting in Wiener Neustadt, the precursor of which Matthias donated to when the city was captured in 1487. In this set of portraits, the bearded and moustached King is shown face on. Queen Beatrice Beatrice of Aragon (1457-1508), daughter of King Ferdinand I of Naples, married the Hungarian King in 1476 and is perhaps Hungary's best-known medieval queen. She has always, however, been overshadowed by the radiant figure of Matthias. The King's historian Antonio Bonfini was hostile to her, and he set the tone for subsequent Hungarian historiography. The queen has never been popular in Hungary. There were several reasons for this, chief among them her inability to provide an heir. She also did everything she could to prevent the King's illegitimate son John Corvin from even being considered for the throne, and attempted to take it herself after Matthias' death. Beatrice wielded considerable political influence through her estates and revenues, which she also King Matthias, Queen Beatrice and the author Pietro Ransano on the frontispiece of his historical work, c. 1490 Budapest, Országos Széchényi Könyvtár, Cod. Lat. 24'), 17r IS