Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 97. (Budapest, 2002)

The Year 2002

The bicentenary of the foundation of Hungary's first public collection in 1802 was also commemorated, among other museums outside Budapest, by the Dobó István Castle Museum in Eger. The ceremonial program was devoted to the memory of the founder, János László Pyrker, archbishop of Eger (1827^17). Pyrker was one of the most manysided and active personalities of the cultural life of his age. The citizens of Eger cherish his memory on behalf of his merits and good deeds for the benefice of the town and its inhabitants. He is mainly reckoned for having directed the construction of the cathedral of his bishopric see and for the foundation of the cult of the Castle of Eger. Pyrker, whose career started as abbot of Lilienfeld, elevated from the bishopric of Szepes (Spis) to the dignity of the patriarch of Venice. During the Venetian years, he collected a most precious gallery, which he originally intended to offer to the town of Eger, but which, finally, he donated to the National Museum in 1836. Before the collection was transported to Pest, it had functioned as a public gallery in Eger. The collection consisting mainly of the compositions by Venetian and other North Italian masters reveals its Venetian origin; no words can testify its high quality and significance better than the paintings on the permanent exhibitions of the Old Masters' Gallery (Gentile Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese etc.) The material of the Eger collection is a selection from the paintings in the store. The uniqueness of the exhibition cannot be left unnoticed: each of the paintings was exhibited in a freshly restored state. The majority of the paintings lent on this occasion are from the 17th and 18th centuries: in the figurative genre, Pietro Bellotti's painting depicting Atropos, Gregorio Lazzarini's (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's master) works representing two different artistic periods of the master, Litterini's two paintings of academic character, works by Pittoni and two copper paintings by Girolamo Pescc, often working for Hungarian commissioners, exemplify the nature of this collection. The special Venetian genre, the veduta, is richly represented at the exhibition: the painting depicting the Pantheon in Rome attributed to B. Bellotto is a typical example of the more realistic current of the genre, whereas the twelve capricci by Giacomo Guardi, son of the great Francesco, treat the elements of the landscape more freely and concentrate rather on the picturesque effects of the reflections of water and light. The paintings coming last in the chronological order are the compositions conceived in the Romantic manner by the Viennese Biedermeier painter, Danhauser. They evoke the literary activity of Archbishop Pyrker, since they represent four scenes from Pyrker's epic poem, Rudolf von Habsburg, which has not yet been translated to Hungarian. Á. sz. Translated by T. K.