Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 2002/1. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 2002)
MŰHELY - Igaz Rita: Püspöki metszetgyűjtemény a 18. század második felében
Rita IGAZ AN EPISCOPAL GRAPHICAL COLLECTION IN THE SECOND HALF OF 18™ CENTURY List of Works of the Cabinets of Engravings of the Episcopal Palaces in Veszprém and Szombathely In nations with more fortunate past collections have flourished since antiquity, while in Hungary it started in the time of renaissance mainly in connection with rulers strongly tied to Italy, like king Mathias I. The Ottoman rule stopped for almost two centuries this promising start, but in the second half of the 18 th century it continued with a decisive role of the highly educated and rich high priests finishing their studies in Rome and aristocrats. According to the spirit of the age their collections - specialised according to the different genres - first served their own amusement and as a representation of their spiritual rank, and was not intended to educate and form others. A special segment of this collecting activity were engravings, not only in the form of albums, but also as independent sheets used for the purposes of decoration. Although the few hundred pieces of the collections of Ignác Koller and János Szily, former bishop of Veszprém, the latter of Szombathely, could not be compared to those of the age's outstanding collectors, like the Esterházy princes, Sámuel Brukenthal, Gedeon Ráday and Ferenc Kazinczy, the way of their presentation is worth our attention: they were placed as wall decorations in rooms of important function in their newly built palaces planned by the outstanding architects of the age. The walls of two rooms - the salon and for the guests and the parlour of the Episcopal apartment - by the ceremonial hall on the piano nobile of the Episcopal palace in Veszprém built by Jakab Fellner between 1765-1776 were covered by the engravings built in the oak-wood boiserie, closed under hand made glass. Among the 120 symmetrically placed pieces order by size - the majority of which were representing landscapes, vedutas, historical events, genre pieces, allegorical and religious scenes - were works of Rubens, Le Bran, Poussin, Watteau, Chardin and Joseph Vernet engraved by famous artists like J. G. Wille, N. Tardieu. On the main floor of the Episcopal palace built between 1777-1784 by Melchior Hefele and decorated by the famous artists Franz Anton Maulbertsch and István Dorffmaister a cabinet of engravings was formed which originally served as a waiting room for the visitors of the bishop. 118 pieces were placed similarly to those of in Veszprém, half of which were works of artists preferred by the bishop impressed by the spirit of antiquity and the grandiosity of baroque Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and his son, Francesco Piranesi showing the famous ruins and buildings of Rome. The other works were engravings after Raffaello, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni, Francesco Zuccarelli and Bernini, engraved by F. Bartolozzi, P. L. Bombelli, G. Vasi. The list of illustrations in the appendix may serve as an important source for experts of the history of graphic works.
