Takács Imre – Buzási Enikő – Jávor Anna – Mikó Árpád szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve, Művészettörténeti tanulmányok Mojzer Miklós hatvanadik születésnapjára (MNG Budapest, 1991)

RAJNAI, Miklós: Tobias Stranover 1684-1756

TOBIAS STRANOVER 1684-1756* MIKLÓS RAJNAI Our information on Tobias Stranover is very scant, as unfortunately is frequently the case with Hungarian artists earlier than the nineteenth century. Lately more details have come to light which probably makes it worthwhile to summarise what we now know about him. We learn from Thieme-Becker (1938),

1 which gives him a fuller entry than any of the other dictionaries, that he was baptised 10th June 1684 in Szeben,

2 Transylvania, died after 1724, place of death unknown; that he was the son-in-law and pupil of Bogdáni in London and painted still-lifes with fruit and birds. This is followed by a list of works by him that can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest; in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg; the Bruckenthal Museum, Nagyszeben; the Landesmuseum, Schwerin, and in Schloss Ahrensburg near Hamburg (ill. 4-7). We can gather from the same source that his father was Jeremias Stranover, a painter from Zsolna, Northern Hungary, but working in Szeben where he married in 1675 and died in 1702; that there is an altarpiece by Jeremias in Segesvár

3 and portraits in the Bruckenthal Museum. Lastly we are given the date of marriage (1715) and death (1729) of his brother Jeremias the younger, by whom no painting is known to have survived. Bénézit (1966)

4 mentions that Tobias worked in London, Holland, Hamburg, Dresden and Szeben. A long stay in Dresden is already referred to by Fuessli (1779),

5 who is followed by Nagler (1847)

6 and it is taken by them from C. L. Hagedorn, Betrachtungen über die Mahlerey, 1762, the first book on art which deals with Stranover. The dictionaries could have added to this the name of the lady Jeremias the elder married in 1675: the widow Johanna, and the name of the first known owner of Tobias Stranover's works: Richard Mead (1673-1754)

8 the famous London doctor with one of the largest collections of his times (books, statuary, gems, coins, antiquities, drawings and paintings). In his sale of paintings, 20th 22nd March 1754, there were two still lifes by Stranover, at least one of them of a „Hungárián" subject: A Bunch of White Tokay Grapes and Another of Red Grapes.

9 His date of death was published in an obvious source, Musgrave's Obituaries vol. 6, The Harleian Society Publications, vol. 49, as long ago as 1901, but it went unnoticed until recently. Musgrave's reference is to The London Magazine: Or, Gentlemen's Monthly Intelligencer, August 1756, in which on page 396 there is a short poem In Memory of the celebrated Mr. Stranover, who died Feb. 23, 1756. As nature came into my room t'other day; A bunch of fine grapes on my table there lay: Surpriz'd at their beauty; why, where got you these? Said the lady I answer"d, I'm glad that they please: They're Stranover's, Madam, but see the bird's head: I see, I'm excell'd, Sir, his works shall not fade.

10 It is likely that our poetaster picked up the news from the Monday, March 1st 1756 number of the Bath Journal which reported: "Last Monday Morning early died, at his House King Mead-Square, Mr. Stranover; who was famous for his Painting of Fruit-Pieces, Birds, &c, &c". He was laid to rest in the churchyard (or church?) of Al Saints on the hillside at Weston,

11 then a village just outside the city of Bath, now one of the districts on its edge to the North-West. Many Bath people are buried here but sadly Stranover's headstone or memorial plaque, if there ever was one, has not survived. So Stranover died in Bath, the most fashionable Spa of England in the eighteenth century and the magnet of innumerable artists, especially portraitists, looking for well-heeled clientele. Unfortunately the rate books of Walcot, the part of the city that includes Kingsmead Square, which was never a fashionable area but is only a stone's throw from the Abbey, the bath and the pump-room, do not yield further information. Stranover did not own but apparently rented his house, as was usual in Bath. Consequently we do not know the date of his arrival and the length of his residence there; whether it was months or years, or even decades. His association with Bath is however further confirmed, should that be necessary. He must have died intestate as his widow took out a letter of administration

12 on the first day of September 1756 concerning the "Goods Chattels & Credits of Tobias Stranover late of the City of Bath deced" [i.e. deceased]. No list itemising these "Goods" etc. seem to have survived. Both his birth date and date of death being fixed now, we have seventy two years to fill in. Considering the length of time, the information available is certainly not very much, but still allows for a few substantial markings within the outline. Let us first set forth the details which can be substantiated by documents or other contemporary evidence, and then