Horváth János: Zichy Mihály emlékmúzeum Zala, 1979

The Zichy Memorial Museum of Zala Mihály Zichy, one of the greatest names in the history of Hungarian painting yas born at this one-time mansion in 1827. The house — built in the eighteenth century — was to be reconstructed in 1830 by the artist's grandfather, Ferenc, a Judge of the County Court. The painter's father d'ied before his time, so the mother — Julianna Eperjessy bi name - wanted her two sons, Antal and Mihály, to become lawyers. However, fine arts appealed more to Mihály as we come to learn fro^m a letter of his (dated 1846) written to his brother from Vienna: . . . ,,l have started on a new passion that gives me a new life and spirit ..." The yound artist — at the recommendation of his master, Wa Id'm üiier — leaves for Russia (1847) in order to 'becoime a teacher to the czar's niece. Soon after he will be the court painter of Nicholas I. Up to his death in 1906 he will spend almost fifty years — by fits and starts — at the czar's court. In his drawn chronicles he passed down to posterity a fascinating, faithful! account of the world of court events, festivities, huntig and aristocratic diversions of all kinds. Visitors can see many a wonderful specimen of this artistic chronicle at the great painter's Zala home, but his countless works of art at the Ermitage, former summer residence of the czars, a'lso serve as evidence of the artist-reporter activity of this man with an exceptional skill in drawing. It tells of Zichy's unusual strictness in matters of art that prevailing conditions created by aristocratic demand and taste did not narrow down hiis activity as an artist into the spectacular representation of life scenes and be went to no extremes either. This is what he says: ,,Art is not a luxury article but a means of self-improvement just like a book ..." For all his aristocratic milieu, deep in his heart, he sympathized with the poor and the oppressed. One of his most characteristic works entitled „Auto da fe" is to attest this by showing a small group of brave people who suffer martyrdom for their faith. His other huge picture - The Triumph of the Demon of Destruction — which had been sent to the Paris World Exhibition of 1878, but was removed from the place since the portrayal of the wounded, the ruined homes with mighty powers overtowering the scene, unmistakably accused the ruling classes and showed sympathy towards the oppressed. A similar fate befell another large-sized oil-painting of his — Modern Siren — sent to the Exhibition as well. At the time critics vigorously attacked Zichy's works considering them as grotesque and dépassé. But the age we live in, judging on the real merits of the Zichy oeuvre, is capable of assigning a proper place to it. The liberail^minded Zichy's ideas and sensibility are also manifest in his activity as an illustrator. The illustration of Byron's Don Juan - a figure having the sympathies of the contemporary liberal bourgeoisie as an influence of the works of the exiled Pushkin and Lermontov - clearly proves this point. The same thing can be said as to the illustration of Rust'aveli's epic ,,The Man In The Panther's Skin". In Georgia where Rust'aveli lived in the twelfth century, there has been a strong Zichy cult throughout. The artist turned out to be a good oracle when he said, ,,l expect that I have left behind a