Prohászka László: Equestrian Statues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)

The statue of Rákóczi Ferenc II

sition). It was art historian Ervin Ybl who called attention to the ingenuity of the feature that the order-sash flowing off Rákóczi’s shoulder fills up, in a picturesque manner, the rectangular space between the figure of the prince and the horse’s body.

János Pásztor modelled Rákóczi’s facial features on a famous oil portrait made by the prince’s contemporary Ádám Mányoki in 1712. But the head of the statue is no servile imitation of the painting - Pásztor’s version has a far more forceful character. For the creation of the beautiful thoroughbred, the artist conducted on-site observations of the fine Lipica steeds owned by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. He had to rely on his memory and the sketches he had made since, according to his own ac40