Körmöczi Katalin szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum 3 - From the End of the Turkish Wars to the Millennium - The history of Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries (Budapest, 2001)

ROOM 10. Hungary in the 18th Century (Gábor Németh)

20. Count András Hadik (1710-1790), Copper engraving, 2nd half of the 18th century shown in Hungarian costume. Near the oil painting, which is by an unknown artist, we have exhibited items representing the ties which bound the Hungarian nobility to the Court. For centuries the Order of the Golden Fleece was regarded as the highest decoration. Those who held it were bound to Maria Theresia personally, as were those who held the Order of St Stephen, created on the occasion of Joseph IPs coronation as king of the Romans in 1764. The Key to the Bedchamber is from the Transylvanian Bánffy family. The seals engraved on precious stones in gold mountings were used by members of the Count Teleki family, among them the outstanding scholar Sámuel Teleki (1739-1822), chancellor of Transylvania. The open Baroque doors lead to an intimate interior. The furniture of the reconstructed library used to be in the Baroque castle at Vágtapolca (Teplicka nad Váhom), in former Trencsén county. In castles built in line with the new requirements, an indispensable feature was a library whose shelves housed finely-bound volumes summarizing the culture and knowledge of the age. From the second half of the century onwards, French Enlightenment works may also have featured. As well as the great libraries founded by the Churches, those of the Telekis, Rádays, Festetiches, and Széchényis were famous in distant parts. Music was inseparable from celebrations at Baroque courts. Musical life at the sumptuous Esterházy palaces at Kismarton and Fertőd was famous throughout Europe. The Fertőd palace - with its enormous park, opera house and famous picture gallery was built by Prince Miklós Esterházy (1714-1790) on the basis of his own ideas; he was deservedly called "the Magnificent" by contemporaries (Fig. 21). Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the great master of Viennese classicism, was the prince's court composer from 1761 until 1790. The baritone which can be seen in the library was the prince's own. Haydn composed some 150 different pieces for this magnificent instrument (Fig. 22), which was made by Johann Joseph Stadlmann, lute and violin maker to the Court in Vienna. The gilded harp is a similarly outstanding instrument. According to tradition and surviving data, it was made by Pierre Cousineau, musical instrument maker to the Court, and once belonged to Marie Antoinette (1755-93), who met a sorry end. There is no better proof of the all-pervading influence of French taste and fashion than the Rococo woman's costume with its hooped skirt and train known as