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)

otherwise flat reverse surface of a stone relief may well be connected to their placement. On the upper part of the reverse side there is a cross-like indentation which undoubtedly served to secure an additional support for the reliefs, placed as they must have been against a wall. The works are of relatively small size, 55 x 38,5 cm and only about 10 cm thick. The fact that, together with their modest size, the figures are not foreshortened, that they are rendered in a very precise, minute technique, and that they are made of precious materials, contradicts any argument for an above-eye-level placement. They are carved together with their own frame and with a type of base which generally was made of wood. Such bases were often enough used for displaying three dimensional portrait busts which, as in these cases, usually bore the name of the sitter.

24 The original placement of the reliefs must have been connected to their size. One can imagine them, therefore, in a more intimate space than that above the doorway of a grand throne room. They might have been made to reside in the confines of a studiolo, placed on a console against the wall,

25 or could have been placed facing each other on either side of a fire place. In both cases the concave shape cut out of their backs would have allowed them to be attached to the wall, standing in front of it, but without being walled in. Since they survived the Turkish occupation and other periods of destruction, they must have stood in a place where they could have been easily dismantled. In Renaissance literature and art the heroes of antiquity became historical figures presented as models for contemporary rulers.

26 It is known that for Bonfini, Matthias' role model was Alexander the Great. This greatest of antique rulers was chosen as such by the Italian humanists, and Bonfini, too, saw in Matthias the reincarnation of Alexander. As Alexander defended the world against the Persians, now Matthias'role was to defend western civilization against the menacing Turkish encroachment.

27 This parallel between Alexander and Matthias was used in several works written by Italian humanists,

28 as also by Janus Pannonius,

29 and again in the 1480s in a letter by the famous Florentine poet-humanist Angelo Poliziano.

30 It was clearly the interest of the 24 Bode, W., Die Ausbildung des Sockels bei den Büsten der italienischen Renaissance, Amtliche Berichte aus den preussischen Staatssammlungen 40 (1919) pp. 99-120. 25 As is the case of the high relief epitaph of Bishop Donato Medici in the Cathedral of Pistoia, by an unknown artist, in 1475 (see Panofsky, E., Tomb Sculpture, New York 1964, p. 69, fig. 284). Mino's marble bust of Bishop Salutai stands on a console and is part of his funerary monument in the Duomo of Fiesole (see Bode. op. cit. [n. 24] pp. 117, fig. 59). The three dimensional marble bust of an unknown person is also placed on a console above the big lavabo of the Certosa di Pavia (see Bode, op. cit. [n. 24] pp. 117. fig. 60). 26 Vayer, L., Alexandres és Corvinos, Művészettörténeti Értesítő 24 (1975) pp. 25-36. 27 This thought appeared first in the work of the humanist Antonio Costanzi of Fano, who encourages Matthias to follow the example of his father, János Hunyadi, the famed and successful commander, to fight against the Turks (sec Vayer, op. cit. [n. 26]); Pajorin, op. cit. (n. 10). 28 Such as Francesco Filelfo, Vespasiano da Bisticci, and many others (see Pajorin, op. cit. [n. 10]), whose interest in Matthias and in Central Europe was closely related to the Turkish danger. 29 Janus Pannonius, Plutarchi de dictis regum et imperatorum liber. Jani Panonnii opuscularum pars altera, Utrecht 1784; Abel, E.. Analecta ad históriám renascentium in Hungária litterarum spectantia, Budapest 1880; Ábel, J., Olaszországi XV. századbeli íróknak Mátyást dicsőítő művei (Fifteenth-century Italian Writers' Works Glorifying Matthias), Budapest 1890. 30 Vayer, op. cit. (n. 26) pp. 25-36.