Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 102-103. (Budapest, 2005)
ANNUAL REPORT 2005 - A 2005. ÉV - ANDREA CZÉRE: On the catalogue by Teréz Gerszi
styles. By their number and quality, two groups of artists come to the fore in the Collection: the artworks of Rembrandt and his disciples, and the compositions of the so-called Italianising masters. A special feature of the collection is that through certain series of drawings, some masters are better represented: the sketches of Hendrik Goudt, for instance, contribute to a better understanding of his drawings, and the significance of Jan van Goyen's influence can be more accurately estimated by way of a series of twelve drawings, which can be attributed to one of his followers. The prologue written to the catalogue gives a short but concise summary about how this segment of the collection developed, a picture that also reflects Hungary's last two hundred years of history, burdened with difficulties. Sadly, this important collection has hardly been expanded since World War II, for the lack of financial backing made impossible to purchase new pieces from abroad, while the domestic art market had nothing to offer. The greatest number and the most valuable works among the 350 items of the catalogue come from the Esterházy Collection, bought by the Hungarian State in 1870. A smaller group of drawings was bequeathed to the Museum by István Delhaes, painter and restorer who died in 1901. The major part of the Museum acquisitions took place in the 1910s, which was chiefly the merit of Simon Meiler, Head of the Collection at that time. In the catalogue, the drawings are according to the artists' names in alphabetical order, starting with the own works of a major artist, then those of his followers, and finally of those who copied his works. 113 of the 350 items are published here for the first time, yet there are another one hundred, which had been published only with meagre data in old-fashioned, inventory-like exhibition catalogues. In addition to the attributions of Edith Hoffmann's card catalogue from the beginning of the 1940s, there are 121 new attributions, mostly as a result of Gerszi's own research work, as w r ell as based on the opinion of foreign experts on drawing. Half of the new attributions consisted of discovering the masters of hitherto anonymous drawings, wdiile the other half was the result of altering already identified names in accordance with the findings of recent scholarship. The lengths of the commentaries accompanying each drawing was determined by the fact of whether the piece had been already published with a detailed description — in which case, the commentary was shorter, while the newly attributed or problematic works received a longer analysis. In each of the two cases, the accompanying texts are concise and informative.
