Prohászka László: Equestrian Statues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)
The relief commemorating the 7th Hussars differs from the conventional monument of the period in several respects. The very proportions are exceptional, as reliefs with equestrian figures were seldom made to be in almost full life size. The piece is a so-called high relief with its figures being given a near-spatial prominence. This technique provides the piece with much dynamism in spite of the emphatically static composition. The artist aimed at a perfectly lifelike representation in shaping the horse and the bareheaded hussar. Everything is true to life, from the mouthpiece of the horses bit and the special military saddle to the hussar’s carbine and spur. The composition is not, however, dominated by the naturalistically elaborate details or even by the figure of Christ as he leans down from the cross. The focus is the dead hussar. There is not a sword or bullet wound or any other scar in evidence. And yet, despite the somewhat artificial position of his hands, the cavalryman is clearly dead. Such perfect presentation in bronze of a helpless, limp human body takes more than just technical skill - this effect can only be achieved by the work of a true artist. The steed in the monument is also worth noting. Istók sculpted a genuine hussar horse - a horse which is intelligent, which is its rider’s true friend for better or for worse. It is as if Istók meant this horse, with its head hung, to be a homage to those legendary horses which would not be dragged away from the graves of their masters. The sense of the drama is deepened by the sight of the forlorn-looking helmet and the hussar sword with its basket hilt iying by the hoofs of the horse. The relief, in spite of the theatricality which strikes the viewer at first sight, is a valuable piece. Istók’s work has been restored to its original condition, but the much-weathered and fractured black marble slabs with the names of the regiment’s dead in the back wall of the church are in sore need of restoration. By the end of the 1920s, largely due to the introduction of the new national currency, the pengő, under István Bethlen’s government, Hungary’s economy had become more-or-less consolidated. Although some signs of the depression remained, there was more money available for art. It cannot be quite by chance that all four major equestrian statues erected between the two world wars were unveiled in the mid-thirties. 31
