Veszprémi Nóra - Jávor Anna - Advisory - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2005-2007. 25/10 (MNG Budapest 2008)

STUDIES - Zsuzsa FARKAS: Reproductions in a Sculptor's Estate from the 1870s: Anna Christ's Photographs of Ferenc Kugler's Statues

11. Anna Christ: Angel by Ferenc Kugler, ca. 1875. HNG It was Kugler's selling his studio or moving to Vienna that prompted Anna Christ to take two excellent photos of it - perhaps for estate purposes (?). In both, the interior of the sculptor's studio is seen with his masterpieces: his statues of Jesus Christ in the centre and various art objects around them. The size of the Jesus Christ statue can be estimated from the so-called Pulszky relief behind, which is in the possession of the National Gallery (its height being 100 cm.) (111. 9). The artist began to work on its first variations in 1868, and then made the 2-metre one." The plaster cast went to the Franciscan abbey in Pest,

38 while its marble version stood in the cemetery in Kerepesi út, it had probably been commissioned by the Putnoky family.

39 There are a number of recognizable works in the photo, for example: the model of the Petőfi portrait mentioned, the competition work for the Vörösmarty statue, which once belonged to the collection of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

40 At the foot of the Jesus statue, there is a relief portrait of a woman in marble, now also in the National Gallery. There is no difficulty in identifying the relief made for the family of Ferenc Pulszky (politician, art historian and director of the Hungarian National Museum) and the copy of a female nude in alabaster. There is also a significant sculpture on the left of Jesus, which the monographer does not mention. This is the bust of Lajos Batthyány, prime minister after the revolution in 1848, which the artist made on the occasion of the transfer of the ashes of the deceased to a new tomb. In smallscale versions, this was on sale in the Pest art-dealer shop of Bernát Fekete.

41 In the other photograph by Anna Christ, we see the statue of Jesus conferring blessings, which stood in another corner of Kugler's studio. It was upon this mould, he carved the tomb of the Wenzel family in Carrara marble in the cemetery in Kerepesi út.

42 (111. 10). Round the statue, there are reliefs with diameters of 40 cm, but only the effigy of Ferenc Pulszky can be identified, the other five depict unknown persons. At the foot of the Jesus statue, we see the bust of Franz Liszt (1865), now an important, muchappreciated piece in the permanent 19

tl>-century exhibition of the National Gallery. After the death of the artist, the effigies of Petőfi and Liszt went to the confectioner Heinrich Kugler, who set them up in his house as attested by a photo. They found their way into the Museum of Fine Arts from the estate of János Kugler in 1924. Finally, the Christ photo shows, at the foot of the Jesus sculpture, the bust of a crowned female figure - Queen Elizabeth. Known from a report by Műcsarnok, Kugler planned to mould the Queen in 1869, and hoped his request to do so would be supported by the high offices in charge. Lt

The artist has the prospect of Her Majesty sitting for him to make her bust," as the art magazine of the day put it.

43 Though the fate of the sculpture is unknown, this is an interesting adage to the cult of Queen Elizabeth already evolving in her lifetime. In the following, I shall only discuss the reproductions concerning which I have been able to unearth other data. Following Kugler's death in 1875, the Association of Fine Artists exhibited his statute entitled Flora, which the press praised but did not find particularly excellent.

44 The critic of the Fővárosi Lapok put it even more sharply: it is a work without expression or ideal grace.

45 In this documentation, it is a small visit photo that preserved it in its then current condition. Gyula Soós mentions that the statue called Genius and a genre piece entitled Child with Goose were lost. However, large-scale (cabinet) photos were made of them both. According to the embossed seal on the oval photo of the latter, it was taken by the Sopron master Sándor Tiefbrunner.

46 Finally, we have an architectural sculpture to mention: there used to be a larger than life-size angel on the Angel Pharmacy at the corner of Hőgyes út and Üllői út, but it was destroyed when the house was demolished in 1958.

47 In the photo by Anna Christ, the angel with its smiling baroque face is seen in the studio, and, on the table behind it, there is the sketch the commissioner had authorized it with. (111. 11) Reproductions often help us learn about interesting works of art, even though they might flood us with superfluous or accidental information. One of the masterpieces of Kugler was a relief for official representation purposes commissioned by Zsigmond Ormós, the Lord Lieutenant of Temes County (otherwise a notable art critic).

48 The piece fixed on the wall of the vestibule of the city hall depicts the visit to the town by Emperor and King Franz Joseph in 1872; among its sixteen figures, Pannónia confers her blessings on those gathered. We know the work from a reproduction in István Berkeszi's book.

49 It may be surmised of other works of his that, had we reproductions of them, the negative picture that has been formed of the artist would be modified. This is particularly true of the Jesus and Mary composition in St. Michael's church, Sopron. There is another statue we only know by way of description: a German poet commissioned a standing statue of Sándor Petőfi wearing his military uniform and with his sword in hand.

50 The series of ten relief portraits be-