Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 90-91.(Budapest, 1999)

VARGA, LÍVIA: The Reconsideration of the Portrait Reliefs of King Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), and Queen Beatrix of Aragon (1476-1508)

25. Queen Beatrix of Aragon. Budapest, Museum of 26. King Matthias Corvinus. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts Fine Arts Belvedere collection and later that of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In 1933 the reliefs were returned to Hungary according to the Venice agreement.

5 Research to date has not been able to answer the very important question as to what became of the reliefs between 1526-1571. In 1526, after the defeat of the Hungarians by the Turks at Mohács, the conquering army would in all likelihood have damaged the reliefs had they been in the Buda palace at that time, or Sultan Sulejman the Great would have taken them, together with many other treasures to Istanbul. They are not listed in the inventory of the royal treasury either which Queen Mary managed to take to Pressburg (Pozsony, Bratislava) in that year. The correspondence of the emperor and the bishop indicates that by 1571—72 the reliefs were in the hands of Imre Bélay, the vicar of the Paulite monastery of Sajólád. After his death they came into the possession of Gergely Bornemissza, the bishop of Csanád.

6 Sajólád is situated near Diósgyőr, itself the site of one of the favorite castles of the royal couple. Considerable source material surviving from the second half of the 15

th 5 Balogh, op. cit. (A művészet, n. 2) I, p. 289. 6 Bornemissza first became bishop of Csanád in 1563 (sec Thallóczy, op. cit. [rí. 4] pp. 140-143). Thallóczy argued, that the most probable scenario was that the reliefs were in the possession of János Corvin, the illegitimate son of the king, since Bélay, judging by his name, could have originated from Bélád, where János Corvin owned a castle.