Róka Enikő szerk.: Zichy Mihály, a „rajzoló fejedelem” (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2007/4)

Az illusztrálás démona és a Démon változó arca • Doré és Zichy GELLER KATALIN

Doré's works based on local legends and tales were influenced by his birth of Strasbourg thereby belonging to two different cultures. He presented Germanic and Celtic gods, legendary figures, sometimes with grotesque imagery, in his book entitled The Mithology of the Rhine (1862). Zichy made illustrations for The Lay of Igor (1853, fig. 80-83.) in Russia, but he illustrated the Georgian national epic tale, The Knight in the Panther's Skin by Shota Rustaveli as well, including the works of Hungarian authors, among others the ballads of János Arany. They were both visiting England and Scotland almost at the same time. These journeys largely influenced their landscape painting and brought success for them. Doré's paintings were also well received and a separate gallery (Doré Gallery) was opened for them. Zichy first visited England in September 1871. He went to London, Sandringham, then to Abergeldie and Balmoral Castle of Scotland to paint pictures of the everyday life of the royal family, including huntings and excursions. His Scottish hunting sequence is one of the pinnacles of his realistic landscape painting. The influence of the pieces of music composed by Ferenc Liszt is another connecting element between the two of them. Dante's Symphony (1855-1856) by Liszt was performed in Paris in 1866, coinciding with the publication of Doré's book on Dante. He dedicated his sepia drawings entitled Dante and Virgil before the Gate of Hell and St Francis of Paula on the Waves to Ferenc Liszt who took them everywhere he went, hung them in his flat in Pest, and later donated them to the National Museum. Zichy did an ink drawing entitled From the Cradle to the Grave under the influence of which Liszt composed his last symphony in the summer of 1881. In spite of their different conditions and ways Doré and Zichy created a special art based on the homology of picture and text. Doré largely contributed with his colleagues to the improvement of woodcuts, whereas Zichy experimented with new phototechnical methods in collaboration with his disciples. Their aim primarily was to improve and speed up copying methods unlike the new generation of graphic designers who were using the special means of graphics technique to enhance the expressivenes of their own works, just as well the reformers of late nineteenth century book art. The illustration methods of Doré and Zichy were rejected by the new generation which had a functional approach, creating a decorative art of book illustrations, which, as can well be seen today, was prepared by both artists as well.