Mikó Árpád szerk.: Reneissance year 2008 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/1)

PÉTER FARBAKY, ÁRPÁD MIKO, ENIKŐ SPEKNER, KORNÉL SZOVÁK, ISTVÁN TRINGLI, ANDRÁS VÉGH: Matthias Corvinus, the King. Tradition and Renewal in the Hungarian Royal Court, 1458-1490

king and made Mihály Szilágyi governor of the realm for five years. In the meantime, Matthias, still in captivity, had made a pact to many the daughter of the governor of Bohemia, George of Podëbrady, in return for his freedom. The Hungarian envoys to the Bohemians consented to the new bargain. Kunigunde of Podëbrady (known as Katherine in Hungary) arrived in 1461, but the marriage was cut short in 1464 by the death of the fifteenyear-old queen in her first childbirth. Matthias arrived in Buda on 14 February 1458, but since the Holy Crown had been in the possession of Emperor Frederick III for fifteen years, the coronation could not take place. The event was substituted by spectacular processions, the making of promises analogous to the coronation oath, and symbolic judgments. A few days later, George of Podëbrady, who sided with the Hussites, was crowned King of Bohemia by two Hungarian bishops sent for the purpose. Matthias rid himself of Mihály Szilágyi's guardianship the same year. The crown was retrieved from Frederick in 1463 and the coronation took place on in Székesfehérvár on Holy Thursday, 29 March 1464. King Matthias in the Chronicle of János Thuróczy, 1488 Budapest, Országos Széchényi Könyvtár White marble portrait of King Matthias, c. 1 485 Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum The Portrait of Matthias — Reality and Ideal The chief criterion of likenesses of rulers at that time was not authenticity or recognisability, but an expression of the idealised image of the ruler and of his virtues. There is a clear division between representations of Matthias in the Gothic and the renaissance styles. Typical of the former is the image of the King seated on the throne, looking ahead, holding the sceptre and the orb (the 1464 royal seal, the picture in the Thuróczy Chronicle, and the Matthias memorial in Bautzen [Germany]

, where the figure of the King is crowned by two angels emerging from under a curtain). Portraits in the classical style probably date from the second half of the 1480s. Coins of two types depict Matthias in profile, with a laurel crown on top of abundantly-falling hair, on the pattern of Roman Emperors. This was also the model for likenesses of the King included in some Corvina codices, and it was from the coins that the bust of King Matthias was carved on the famous double portrait. These reflected the lion-like facial expression modelled on Alexander the Great, and these features also appeared in humanist depictions of Matthias. A similar pose is seen on the painting which the Giovio collection in Como regards as a copy of a portrait of Matthias painted by Mantegna. The original