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

ÁRPÁD MIKÓ: The Legacy of King Matthias. Late Renaissance Art in Hungary (16th-17th Century)

Altar cross of Márton Hetési Pethe, Archbishop of Kalocsa and Bishop of Győr, 1603 Győr, Székesegyliázi Kincstár Codex to the Károli and Káldy translations. Their illustrations also usually reflected a denomination: a host of saints appear on the title pages of Catholic publications; no figurative illustrations are to be found on those of the Calvinist Church. There is also a Hebrew Bible, which was used in Hungary in the late 16th century, and an edition oi Martin Luther's psalm translations brought into Hungary by Anabaptists (know as Habans), expelled from their homeland. Prince György Rákóczi had his Latin Bible, printed in the 15th century, decorated with an elaborate binding of goldsmith work. It was perhaps the Catholic prelates who were financially best placed, they certainly retained an unbroken line of religious tradition. Where possible, they used medieval goldsmith and textile works, and only rarely had new ones made. The most splendid pieces were ordered from abroad, such as the monumental cross ordered for the Győr Cathedral from a goldsmith in Ulm by Márton Pethe of Hetes, Archbishop of Kalocsa, or the Angevin-era mitre from the Veszprém Cathedral treasury which Pál Bornemisza had altered for his own use in Vienna m 1550. Chasubles were also retained from the Middle Ages; no significant sets of new ones survive from this period, only a few handsome pieces made with a specifically Hungarian form of embroidery known as úrihímzés, and some which are simpler. Chasubles were even made from Turkish floor velvet. It was the Jesuits who really reformed Catholic art, but this was the road towards the Baroque. The subjects of the illustrations in books commissioned by the Jesuits included the Hungarian saints and the symbolic figure of the Virgin Mary as patroness of Hungary, the Patrona Hungáriáé, first used in King Matthias' time. The Lutheran Church took a similar approach to liturgical vessels and paraments as the Catholics: they had no problem using these, and if new ones were needed they quite often ordered them from the same place as the Catholics — Augsburg, in the case of the late 17th century I lies Tar: Tankard. 1642 Kecskemet, Ráday Múzeum