Nagy Ildikó szerk.: Nagybánya művészete, Kiállítás a nagybányai művésztelep alapításának 100. évfordulója alkalmából (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 1996/1)

Bakó Zsuzsanna: A történelmi téma jelentkezése és alakulása a nagybányai festők munkásságában

ing. While historical topics appeared only infrequently in the oeuvres of Réti and Iványi, Hollósy and Thorma were often preoccupied with a particular topic for decades. They treated the same subject several times, starting it anew and then often destroying their own work; in many cases the paintings were never finished or remained mere plans. The historical paintings of the Nagybánya artists are related to the issue of national independence. They had a particular fondness for depicting events of the 1848-1849 Revolution and War of Independence; half of the fourteen historical paintings are related to this topic. Among the Nagybánya painters, János Thorma was the most faithful to historical subjects and manifested the strongest emotional attachment to the 1848 Revolution. Martyrs of Arad, depicting the execution of thirteen generals of the War of Independence, was submitted to the 1896 painting competition. This painting was meant as an indictment of the Emperor, and the official circles reacted accordingly: the picture was rejected by the exhibition committee. Nevertheless, the public made a virtual pilgrimage to the rented exhibition hall where the artist presented his huge canvas. From this point on, Thorma regarded the propagation of the 1848 ideas as his mission and produced several paintings on the subject. He started Rise Up, Hungarians! in 1898, and worked on this depiction of the events of March 15, 1848 - the outbreak of the revolution - until the end of his life. In addition to these two major works he produced several historical studies, two of which were related to the Martyrs of Arad. He painted The Execution of György Dózsa, an illustration for a poem by József Kiss, and after several decades two more studies: Capturing of Buda Castle in 1849 and Delegates in front of the House of Parliament. Simon Hollósy's history painting developed along similar lines. He intended to submit a grand historical composition to the 1896 competition, but only completed a landscape entitled The Castle of Huszt. He also painted The Outbreak of Zrínyi around this time, as well as producing a drawing, Revolution, which was an illustration for József Kiss's poem Fires. The concept of painting The Rákóczi March started to interest him in 1895; he composed numerous studies but never actually completed the painting. The symbolic image of the crowd marching to the tunes of the Rákóczi March refers equally to the memory of 1848 and to the agrarian movements of the late 19th century. If only for a short period, István Réti also became interested in rendering historical events. He painted A Honvéd's Funeral in 1899, depicting the procession of the aging soldiers of the Patriotic Army in a lyrical, nostalgic way. Lajos Kossuth Lying on His Catafalque and Portrait of Lajos Kossuth, which he was commissioned to paint in 1931, are related to our topic only as documents. Although Béla PV Returning Home after the Tatar Invasion by Béla Iványi Griinwald is a traditional historical painting, it is generally regarded as a landscape because of its artistic methods. Taking into consideration all the history paintings produced by the Nagybánya artists, it may be concluded that in this genre the painters did not live up to the expectations of their contemporaries and themselves. One of the reasons is that the ideology of this genre had become outdated by this time and, therefore, the new generation of painters was not able to identify emotionally with its requirements. The other reason is that while these artists did not dare to dissociate themselves from the schemes of depiction which had been developed and taught at the academies throughout many centuries, they were unable to create harmony between these traditions and their new methods of painting, which were moving towards Impressionism. Hollósy came the closest to reaching a synthesis which might have brought a resolution, but neither he nor his contemporaries realized this, and their experiment to revitalize historical painting thus ended in failure.