Lengyel László (szerk.): Devóció és dekoráció - 18. és 19. századi korolstormunkák Magyarországon - Studia Agriensia 7. (Eger, 1987)
Summary
PREFACE II. THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION ENTITLED DEVOTION AND DECORATION SÁROSPATAK, MARCH 10, 1985. When in 1688 György Kőrössy the bailiff of Sárospatak compiled a register for Ferenc and Julianna Rákóczi, bearing the title, “Concerning the Garment and Other Goods Which Had Been in Munkács and Were Brought Here to Sárospatak and Belonged to the Lordly Rákóczy Orphans”, in the stock there were two reliquaries: “Two black framed pictures, glass covered works of a nun, both illustrating St. Barbara”. Ferenc Rákóczi IPs tutor described precisely the two pieces of “merchandise”. The art objects displayed church themes but they were not marked for church use, but were pictures gathered together under a glass covered frame; their craftsmanship was so typical that the artisans can even be named: the handiwork of nuns. Thus they are the type of art abjects which the organisers of the exhibition place before us with the title “Devotion and Decoration”. The beautifully alliterating title “Devotion and Decoration” — why should it be denied — , is a little puzzling although it is exact and expresses its essence. From these two words the Latin word “devotio” signifying piety, worship and reverence disappeared long ago from the Hungarian language and no word came to take its place. However, “modern devotion” that is a new kind of piety played a decisive role in one of the turning points of European culture, when in the 14th century religious literature and art reached a new domain of human inner emotional experience and with the discovery of this inner world it boldly opened up new directions in the process of human self-knowledge which is still continuing today. Thus art played an important role in this change, which was totally imbued with the anguish of Christ and Mary’s pain, furthering this process and giving a freer rein to emotional expression. First of all this greatly popularised graphic representations which served the aims of individual worship were elevated to high art by Dürer and his contemporaries. Concerning this new late medieval attitude in Hungarian art we only know of the appearance of its monumental forms. After the Reformation, 133
