Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)

HORVÁTH Hilda: Vázlat egy műgyűjtemény sorsáról

HILDA HORVÁTH AN OUTLINE OF THE FATE OF A COLLECTION For the past few decades, several topics were considered "awkward problems" and were hidden behind deep silence, which, apart from being a personal tragedy for a few people, also hindered or even muted thorough scientific research and the publication of the results. These topics included everything that were somehow connected with the fate and history of aristocratic and noble families - with castles constructed and owned by them, with their furniture and collections. When these inhibitions started to disappear with time, the real and apparent lack of documents impeded research. This is the main reason for the sad fact that we know hardly anything about one of the most significant Hungarian private collections of the Hungarian aristocracy of the turn of the century: the collection of Count János Pálffy Senior. János Pálffy was born on 12 of August, 1829, as the oldest child of Count Ferenc and since he had only a younger sister (Countess Gabriella, later Countess M. Andrássy) and had no children either, with him the male branch of the Pálffys of Királyfa was extinct. He had a great number of titles, including the secret counsellor and chamberlain of the imperial and royal court, the perpetual Lord Lieutenant of Pozsony county and the life member of the Hungarian House of Lords.

1 Despite his peculiar, reserved personality he offered huge sums for charity purposes or foundations

2 and after fulfilling the claims on his inherited property, he spent a great part of his fortune on furnishing his castles and palaces and on starting his diverse collection.

3 He finished the Academy of Law in Pozsony (Pressburg), then he went abroad and spent most of his time in London and in Italy; he had properties in France and a palace in Paris. Due to his systematic, characteristic personal passion for collecting pieces of arts, Count Pálffy could create a full oeuvre and furnish his palaces, and castles of Budapest, Vienna, Bazin, Bajmóc and Királyfa with great works of art.

4 Indeed, there were some precedents of art collections in the Pálffy family, since for centuries ecclesiastical treasuries, and private treasuries of the aristocracy meant the two poles of Hungarian art collecting. Known from their loyalty to the Habsburgs, the high-ranking, aristocratic family had had a significant role in Hungarian history for a long time. The had always owned remarkable treasures

5 and several contemporary, 18th century sources reported on the luxury and extravagancy of Pálffy castles.

6 Until Count János Pálffy, collecting meant only a way of accumulating a fortune, but with him it was guided by had firm ideas and fine aesthetic points of view. His collection consisted mainly of the bequest of the ancestors and partly of his own purchases that he could perform during his long stays abroad. During the 1871 commune the price of relics