BENCZÚR, Gyula
(1844, Nyíregyháza -1920, Dolány)

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1901
Oil on canvas, 115,5 x 75,5 cm
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Benczúr's early landscapes, i.e. those made between 1873 and 1875, often feature figures, mostly that of his wife. When she died in 1890, leaving behind four orphans, sadness moved into the Benczúr's home. The painter married again two years later, and the newly discovered family harmony reappeared in his compositions. This particular painting, too, shows the artist's second wife delighting in the abundant beauty of the natural surroundings.

In another of his works, painted in 1890 and entitled "Among Mallows", there are amorettes of Rubenite roundness surrounded with floral decoration on similar Baroque pomp. In the case of this particular painting, however, the mythological references, which were typical in the painter's later works, are missing: the harmonious relationship between man and Nature is depicted directly. Employing the entire artistic vocabulary of European painting in a masterly way, but substituting the brilliant surface of Impressionism with the partiality to details of Naturalism, the painter makes a sincere statement about the love of life and the faithful attachment to his spouse.


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