Barabás Miklós első Széchenyi István-képmása 1836-ból
| Autor: | Márta Flóra Tomasits-Hegedüs |
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| Rok vydání: | 2023 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Művészettörténeti Értesítő. 71:79-88 |
| ISSN: | 1588-2802 0027-5247 |
| DOI: | 10.1556/080.2022.00004 |
| Popis: | In the study I explore the relationship between the popular reformist politician of the first half of the 19th century István Széchenyi (1791–1860) and the painter Miklós Barabás (1810–1898). Miklós Barabás of Márkusfalva returned to Pest from a study tour of Italy in late 1835. He had an immense amount of sketches from his travels, and hardly any clients to sell to, so he tried to make acquaintances through the prominent figures of literature. His first commission was to paint the portrait of the poet Mihály Vörösmarty. During this commission he got acquainted with Antal Tasner, Count István Széchenyi’s secretary, who directed the count’s attention to the young painter. In this period several important institutions were associated with Széchenyi: he made a donation for the establishment of the Scholarly Society (the later Academy of Sciences), he took part in founding the National Casino in Pest, and had an active role in the work of the First Danubian Steam Shipping Company. From the end of the 1820s he wrote and published four books: Lovakrul [On Horses], Hitel [Credit], Világ [World/ Light], Stádium [State/stage of development]. His portrait was popular and in high demand. In 1835 eight different drawings and paintings were made of the politician. The aldermen of four counties – Hont, Bihar, Nógrád and Sopron – wished to acquire a portrait of him each. In response to the request by Bihar county, Széchenyi recommended Miklós Barabás to paint the portrait and guaranteed that the painting would be a success.Széchenyi and Barabás met in person in February 1836 when the portrait in the focus of research was made with the count sitting for it. This half-length portrait of the count in Hungarian gala costume was extended to full length portraits several times and sold to different clients.At the present stage of research the painting ordered by Hont county (in the Mining Museum, Selmecbánya) is the only original portrait in addition to the half-figure prototype, and the work for Sopron county is known in reproduction. The two depictions are iconographically connected by the black Hungarian gala costume and the motifs alluding to Széchenyi’s political activity (books on the table, steamboat in the background). After Széchenyi’s death in 1860 Pest county also commissioned Barabás to paint a full-length portrait of him. In the background of the painting of 1867 the construction of Chain-bridge is shown. The posture of the figure is, however, not so excellently set as in the earlier pictures. Barabás kept the first-painted half-length portrait with him to the end of his life. His heirs later sold it to Dénes Széchenyi, the grandson of István Széchenyi’s brother Lajos and it survived the vicissitudes of the 20th century in family ownership. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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