A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1948-1956 (Debrecen, 1957)
Menyhárt József: Az „Arany Egyszarvú” patika XVIII. századi festményei
18th century paintings oí the „Golden Unicorn" Pharmacy Joseph Menyhárt On the first floor of the Déri Museum, in a little room of exposition (no 10) a Pharmacy, the „Golden Unicorn" from 1772 is remodelled, fitted to the age with contemporary furnitures and instruments. Among the there displayed objects those are the door- and cupboard-leaves which deserve special interest with their decorative paintings throwing light on the contemporary culture. The oldest cupboard-leaves are the two ones of the smallest sizes (113x66 cm). Their outside surface is of plain brown painting. The inner surfaces portray two paintings : 1. La Virilitä, 2. L' Adolescenza. (PI. XI.) The compositional construction of the two paintings as well as their patterns and colourings indicate to the late Baroque or early Roccoco. The figurative and colour elements of these two cupboard-leaves served for patterns to the painter of the other cupboard-leaves (no 3 — 8) whose paintings are of far less quality and of a later period. The outer surface of these cupboardleaves is kept in yellowish-brown tone with dashes of larger streaks. The fields are divided into tw r o parts by smooth, baroque-like, carved frame decorations and are decorated with landscape-motifs. The inner surfaces are also divided into two parts by a painted, pseudo-baroque ribbon-like frame decoration. Some of these portrayals had been roughly re-painted and the re-painting had to be removed at the restoration to reconstruct the original ones. In the paintings of the 3 — 8. cupboard-leaves the constructional setting up of the compositions, their perspectives, the setting of colours and drawings, the coordination of tones indicate to a poor artistic sense. (PI. X.) On the 9 — 10. door-leaves Aesculap and Hygieia are portrayed in a more or less traditional way. (PI. XII.) The paintings may have been made in the same time as the 1—2. door-leaves. They served for decorating the main entrance of the pharmacy and were steadily exposed to the weather conditions and to the wear and tear of everyday use. It turned out at the restoration that they had been repainted respectively painted anew two times. The wears and the close adhesion of the colour did not allow to recover the original painting at the restoration. On the door leaves 11—12.(210x73 cm) are portrayed the figures of Hygieia and Galenus. In their present form they are repaintings adopted to the original and, as it is given by their subject, contain elements of the empire style. 79
