Painting and Sculpture in the Second Half of 19th Century
After 1849, painting had to face harsh conditions, the worst of all being the ideological pressure on it. This is what made artists turn to the past and revive artistic forms and styles of the past for a long time. Miklós Barabás worked until the last years of the century and hardly changed his style and subject. Soma Orlai Petrich (1822-1880), a characteristic artist of the period of transition, painted My Mother, his most delicate picture of all, with which he exceeds the artistic approach of Barabás. He tried to emphasise deep and tense features of character portrayal which made him the predecessor of romanticism and realism, too. The majority of his works were, however, either historic or genre pictures. His favourite model was Sándor Petőfi the poet and a friend of his, who appeared in his genre pictures and portraits. Orlai Petrich's art was significant although his works created stir neither during his life, nor later.
József Molnár (1821-1899) became famous for his historical pictures. Rendezvous and Shipwreck indicate his skills at painting landscapes and genre pictures. His historical pictures clearly show that ideas of the revolution and war of independence never died which gave power in those desperate years by subject matters recalling the glory of the past. In Self Sacrifice of Knight Dezső Sacrifices himself for Charles Robert he commemorated patriotism. His landscapes, especially those of the Tatra Mountains in cool and fresh colours indicate that Molnár might have turned into a major artist under more favourable circumstances. The artistic career of Mihály Kovács (1818-1892) was broken off, too. Árpád is Raised on a Shield (1854) brought him fame, although the picture was much too illustrative in comparison with pictures of higher standard. Self-Portrait with Kossuth-Hat, an informal picture, shows good artistic skills and early features of romanticism. He spent a good deal of his life in Italy and Spain where he used to copy masters of earlier periods and was engaged in ecclesiastical art.
János Jankó (1833-1896) painted a series of small size pictures based on folk life. From the 1860s onwards, he drew cartoons only, thus founding a new genre.
The artistic tradition which was to survive was landscapes as started by Markó. In addition to members of his family, especially Ferenc Markó, his son (1832-1886), artists other than his pupils met with success, too, e.g. Antal Ligeti (1832-1890), who painted oversize pictures in a careful but somewhat dry manner, achieved significant artistic heights. Exotic landscapes, popular subjects of romanticism, fascinated him, too, and made him paint oases and oriental landscapes of a dreamworld rather than reality which, however, lack Markó's attractive poetry. He was the first artist who supported Mihály Munkácsy. Landscapes of Károly Telepy (1828-1906) have much in common with his. Telepy's works are less formal than those of Ligeti, yet Telepy's works lack careful elaboration characteristic of Ligeti's works. He was one of the first artists engaged in painting Budapest growing into a city. As secretary of the Society of Fine Arts he played an important role in the art life of Hungary.
Landscapes of Sándor Brodszky (1819-1901) are more picturesque and romantic than works of art so far mentioned. Gloomy atmospheres, warm colours and less formal composition characterise his pictures. Besides ruins of castles, he painted the country around Lake Balaton and the Buda Hills in similar pictures of attractive intimacy. The style of Gusztáv Keleti (1834-1902) is related to that of Brodszky to some extent. It is a good example for academic approach full of pseudo-romanticism of Markó's landscapes. Park of the Exile (1870) is the best known example or symbol of this style. The picture of national devastation in careful academic composition and colours brought him a lot of success. However, he abandoned painting and became a respected art critic.
Life Boat (1847), a genre picture by Mihály Zichy (1827-1906) represents the development of Vienna style genre pictures full of dramatic tension and psychology. Zichy's artistic development was particularly influenced by his experiences in Russia, then he settled down in Paris. Triumph of the Genius of Destruction, a characteristic picture, is full of mental bravery but far-fetched literary messages, too. He kept returning to drawing and prepared highly effective illustrations to works of Arany, Madách and other writers. Isolated, Zichy failed to influence the art of his age.
A typical representative of monumental painting on national subject matters was Mór Than (1823-1899). He revived monumental fresco painting and its subject matters in Hungarian art. The grandiose composition is present especially in his frescoes which he produced between 1860 and 1880 to decorate the Municipal Concert Hall and the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. Since his work received no favourable response, he left for Italy from where he returned in 1890 to become secretary of the Society for Fine Arts. After his very promising early years his oeuvre can be considered as somewhat incomplete. (See details on the art of Than on separate page.)
Károly Lotz (1833-1904) united the achievements of his predecessors and, due to his great artistic skills, asserted them in all genres. Although his landscapes and portraits are attractive and exceed works of artists already mentioned, his real genre is fresco painting or wall decoration. He soon broke off with the solemn style characteristic of historical pictures in the staircase of the Hungarian National Museum and created bright pictures full of life recalling the atmosphere of mature Renaissance. The influence of Tiepolo and Italian painting was certain, but dynamism, effective colours and gracefulness of the drawings are related to Lotz. His most famous picture is the tempera painting on the ceiling of the Budapest Opera House which, with figures gently hovering in the air and with almost musical rhythm, expresses solemnity and elevation of music (Apotheosis of Music, 1883-1884). Frescoes in the former building of the High Court, the Royal Palace or the Eastern Railway Station indicate a significant artist who often relied on baroque tools of illusion. His portraits and full size sitting female figures (Kornélia Lotz Dressed in Black) stylised as if genre pictures unite relaxed composition and stylisation of drawings which makes him related to pre-raphaelite painters.
Sándor Wagner (1838-1919), a major figure of historical painting, represented pathos and exaggerated style of the Academy in Munich. Self-Sacrifice of Titusz Dugonics (1859) was an expression of patriotism and heroism which was particularly important in the years of oppression. In spite of his careful style and good artistic skills, he never received suitable commissions in Hungary, so he returned to Munich and worked as a renowned teacher of the academy. His pictures, however, showed more and more elements of rhetoric and emptiness.
Viktor Madarász (1830-1917) exceeded Wagner both in significance and attraction. Having fought in the war of independence, he had to suffer suppression. He remained to be an opposer of the Hapsburgs and a supporter of the revolution. He painted in 1859 The Mourning of László Hunyadi, perhaps his most beautiful work which was awarded the Grand Prix of the Salon in Paris. He retired after 1868, painted few pictures and became isolated. Under more favourable conditions his art could have reached an even higher artistic level. (See details on the art of Madarász on separate page.)
Bertalan Székely (1835-1910), one of the most significant artists, was fighting with problems all his life. Székely, with an academic, i.e. classical background, attempted to achieve classical harmony. He developed a style to portray reality limited in colours to express his opinion on moral issues. His main works were monumental historical paintings, but he also painted significant landscapes and portraits, genre pictures and illustrations. His success was hindered by the fact that his age was not a period of harmony and balance, a contradiction which he failed to solve. (See details on the art of Székely on separate page.)
The art of Székely summed up all trends of painting before Mihály Munkácsy. He endeavoured to produce pictures of high quality. Although his life-work remained to be a torso, Székely is considered to be one of the most significant figures of 19th century painting. With his art he built a bridge between ideals of 1848 and the world at the turn of the century.