Mihály Munkácsy
Encyclopedia
Mihály Munkácsy was a Hungarian
painter
, who lived in Paris
and earned international reputation with his genre pictures and large scale biblical painting
s.
parents in Munkács, Kingdom of Hungary
, the town from which he later gathered his pseudonym. After being apprenticed to itinerant painter Elek Szamossy, Munkácsy went to Pest
, the capital city, where he sought the patronage of some established artists. With the help of the landscapist Antal Ligeti he received a grant from the state so he could study abroad. In 1865 he studied at the Academy
of Vienna
under Karl Rahl. In 1866 he went to Munich
to study at the Academy, and in 1868 he moved to Düsseldorf
to learn from the popular genre painter Ludwig Knaus
. In 1867 he travelled to Paris
to see the Universal Exposition. After this trip his style became much lighter, with broader brushstrokes and tonal colour schemes - he was probably influenced by modern French painting seen at the Exposition.
In the early years of his career Munkácsy painted mainly scenes from the daily lives of peasants and poor people. First he followed the colourful, theatrical style of contemporary Hungarian genre painters (e. g. Károly Lotz
, János Jankó
), for example in The Cauldron (1864) or Easter Merrymaking (1865). In the next years he started to pay more attention to the landscape into which he placed his figures (Storm in the Puszta
, 1867). From the Düsseldorf genre painters he learnt to represent different emotions in his figures and to treat them as a group (The Last Day of a Condemned Man, 1869).
Munkácsy went on in this direction and painted genre pictures like Making Lint (1871) and Woman Gathering Brushwood (1873). At the end of the 1870s he also worked in Barbizon
, together with his friend, the Hungarian landscapist László Paál
, and painted fresh, richly coloured landscapes. In 1878 he painted a historical genre picture, The Blind Milton
Dictating Paradise Lost
to his Daughters, which marked a new milestone in his oeuvre. This scene is set in the past and in a richly furnished room. The picture was bought (and successfully sold) by Austria
n-born art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer
, who offered Munkácsy a ten-year contract. This deal made Munkácsy a wealthy man and a really established member of the Paris art world. Sedelmeyer wanted him to paint large-scale pictures which could be exhibited on their own. They decided that a subject taken from the Bible
would be most suitable. In 1882 Munkácsy painted Christ
in front of Pilate which was followed by Golgotha in 1884. The trilogy was completed by Ecce Homo
in 1896. These huge paintings were taken on a tour and exhibited in many European cities and also in the US by the art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer
. All three were bought by American
millionaire John Wanamaker
who exhibited them in his department store in Philadelphia every Easter
. (Today all three can be seen in Debrecen
, Hungary.)
Munkácsy did not abandon genre painting, but his settings changed. In the 1880s he painted many so-called salon pictures: scenes set in lavishly furnished rooms in the homes of rich people. His most often depicted subjects were motherhood (Baby's Visitors, 1879), the happy moments of domestic life (The Father's Birthday, 1882), children and animals (Two Families in the Salon, 1880). His elegantly dressed, dainty young women also appear in landscape settings (Three Ladies in the Park, 1886). These pictures were extremely popular (especially among American buyers) and fetched great prices. Beside these urban subjects Munkácsy also continued to paint rural scenes and dramatic, intensely emotional landscapes.
in 1870. It made Munkácsy a popular painter in an instant and encouraged him to move to and settle in Paris. Ironically enough this work summarises torture caused by oppression, moral uncertainty and reactions to an impending tragic end in visual form. However, it aptly captures the capabilities of the Hungarian master in painting. Unfortunately he responded to material success and focused on works with high and immediate market value.
Munkácsy painted his genres in the style of realism between 1873 and 1875: "Midnight Ramblers", "Farewell". "Churning Woman", "Woman Carrying Brushwood", and "Pawnshop" were the zenith of his career. He married the widow of Baron de Marches in 1874, and his style changed from that time on. Departing from the typical subjects of realism, he produced colourful salon paintings and still lifes. This was the period when he also turned to ladscape painting; his growing interest is marked by such great paintings as "Dusty Road". "Corn Field", and "Walking in the Woods". The assimilation of László Paál's style is apparent in the landscapes painted during the 1880s, such as "Avenue" and "The Colpach Park". His realist portraits - e.g. of Franz Liszt
and Cardinal Haynald - were also born around this time, together with his religious paintings, such as "Christ in front of Pilate", "Golgotha" and later, "Ecce homo".
Towards the end of his career he painted two monumental works: "Hungarian Conquest" for the House of Parliament and a fresco entitled "Apotheosis of Renaissance", for the ceiling of Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna.
in Vienna. The work was titled Glorification of the Renaissance.
The trilogy comprises Ecce Homo! painted in 1896 (oil on canvas, 403 x 650 cm, Déri Museum, Debrecen), Golgotha painted in 1884 (oil on canvas, 460 x 712 cm, Déri Museum, Debrecen -loan until 2002) and Christ before Pilate finished in 1881 (oil on canvas, 417 x 636 cm, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada).
grew into a severe mental illness which was probably intensified by the syphilis
he caught in his youth. His last pictures are troubled and sometimes even bizarre (Victim of Flowers, 1896).
Towards the end of his life when disease was demanding more and more of his energy and finally darkness descended on his mind, he accomplished two pictures involving several figures, one is Strike (1896) where he illustrated the subject of the picture, rather unusual at his time, in a new style of character portrayal with the old passionate approach only superficially present.
near Bonn
. He collapsed and died there. On 9 May he was laid to eternal rest in Kerepesi Cemetery.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, who lived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and earned international reputation with his genre pictures and large scale biblical painting
Christian art
Christian art is sacred art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity, though other definitions are possible. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, although some have had strong objections to some forms of...
s.
Early Years of Munkácsy
Munkácsy was born Michael von Lieb to GermanGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
parents in Munkács, Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, the town from which he later gathered his pseudonym. After being apprenticed to itinerant painter Elek Szamossy, Munkácsy went to Pest
Pest (city)
Pest is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two thirds of the city's territory. It is divided from Buda, the other part of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable parts are the Inner City, including the Hungarian Parliament, Heroes' Square and...
, the capital city, where he sought the patronage of some established artists. With the help of the landscapist Antal Ligeti he received a grant from the state so he could study abroad. In 1865 he studied at the Academy
Academy
An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. In the western world academia is the...
of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
under Karl Rahl. In 1866 he went to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
to study at the Academy, and in 1868 he moved to Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
to learn from the popular genre painter Ludwig Knaus
Ludwig Knaus
Ludwig Knaus was a German genre painter of the younger Düsseldorf school. He was born at Wiesbaden and studied from 1845 to 1852 under Sohn and Schadow in Düsseldorf. His early works, like "The Gamblers," in the Düsseldorf Gallery, are in the manner of that school, being dark and heavy in color...
. In 1867 he travelled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to see the Universal Exposition. After this trip his style became much lighter, with broader brushstrokes and tonal colour schemes - he was probably influenced by modern French painting seen at the Exposition.
Károly Lotz
Lotz Károly Antal Pál, or Karl Anton Paul Lotz was a German-Hungarian painter.- Career :Karl Lotz was born in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, the 7th and youngest surviving child of Wilhelm Christian Lotz and Antonia Höfflick ...
, János Jankó
János Jankó
János Jankó was a Hungarian painter and graphicist. He started to teach graphics as early as in high school. Later he studied in Vienna, where he became known for his caricatures. His drawings were published in several Hungarian humor magazines, and they were popular and typical of the era....
), for example in The Cauldron (1864) or Easter Merrymaking (1865). In the next years he started to pay more attention to the landscape into which he placed his figures (Storm in the Puszta
Puszta
Puszta is a steppe biome on the Great Hungarian Plain around the River Tisza in the eastern part of Hungary as well as on the western part of Hungary and in the Austrian Burgenland. The Hungarian puszta is an enclave of the Eurasian Steppe....
, 1867). From the Düsseldorf genre painters he learnt to represent different emotions in his figures and to treat them as a group (The Last Day of a Condemned Man, 1869).
Munkácsy went on in this direction and painted genre pictures like Making Lint (1871) and Woman Gathering Brushwood (1873). At the end of the 1870s he also worked in Barbizon
Barbizon
Barbizon is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest.-Art history:The Barbizon school of painters is named after the village; Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, leaders of the school, made their homes and died in the...
, together with his friend, the Hungarian landscapist László Paál
László Paál
László Paál was a Hungarian Realist landscape painter. He was a pupil of Mihaly Munkacsy. His pictures are representative of lyrical realism: his oeuvre is related to the tendencies of the Barbizon School.-External links:*...
, and painted fresh, richly coloured landscapes. In 1878 he painted a historical genre picture, The Blind Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
Dictating Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
to his Daughters, which marked a new milestone in his oeuvre. This scene is set in the past and in a richly furnished room. The picture was bought (and successfully sold) by Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-born art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer
Charles Sedelmeyer
Charles Sedelmeyer was an Austrian art dealer, collector, and publisher active in Paris from 1866, with premises at 6 rue de la Rochefoucauld. He is credited with popularising the Dutch artist Jan van Goyen in France...
, who offered Munkácsy a ten-year contract. This deal made Munkácsy a wealthy man and a really established member of the Paris art world. Sedelmeyer wanted him to paint large-scale pictures which could be exhibited on their own. They decided that a subject taken from the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
would be most suitable. In 1882 Munkácsy painted Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
in front of Pilate which was followed by Golgotha in 1884. The trilogy was completed by Ecce Homo
Ecce Homo
Ecce Homo are the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in the Vulgate translation of the , when he presents a scourged Jesus Christ, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion. The original Greek is Ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄνθρωπος . The King James Version translates the phrase...
in 1896. These huge paintings were taken on a tour and exhibited in many European cities and also in the US by the art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer
Charles Sedelmeyer
Charles Sedelmeyer was an Austrian art dealer, collector, and publisher active in Paris from 1866, with premises at 6 rue de la Rochefoucauld. He is credited with popularising the Dutch artist Jan van Goyen in France...
. All three were bought by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
millionaire John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker was a United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a "pioneer in marketing." Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Biography:He was born on July 11, 1838.He opened his first store in...
who exhibited them in his department store in Philadelphia every Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
. (Today all three can be seen in Debrecen
Debrecen
Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...
, Hungary.)
Munkácsy did not abandon genre painting, but his settings changed. In the 1880s he painted many so-called salon pictures: scenes set in lavishly furnished rooms in the homes of rich people. His most often depicted subjects were motherhood (Baby's Visitors, 1879), the happy moments of domestic life (The Father's Birthday, 1882), children and animals (Two Families in the Salon, 1880). His elegantly dressed, dainty young women also appear in landscape settings (Three Ladies in the Park, 1886). These pictures were extremely popular (especially among American buyers) and fetched great prices. Beside these urban subjects Munkácsy also continued to paint rural scenes and dramatic, intensely emotional landscapes.
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
In 1869 Munkácsy painted his much acclaimed work The Last Day of a Condemned Man. This is considered his first masterpiece. The picture was rewarded with the Gold Medal of the Paris SalonParis Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
in 1870. It made Munkácsy a popular painter in an instant and encouraged him to move to and settle in Paris. Ironically enough this work summarises torture caused by oppression, moral uncertainty and reactions to an impending tragic end in visual form. However, it aptly captures the capabilities of the Hungarian master in painting. Unfortunately he responded to material success and focused on works with high and immediate market value.
A painter, a celebrity
Unlike many other painters, Munkácsy was very conscious about earthly comfort and social prestige. Over the years he became quite a celebrity.Munkácsy's evolving paintings
Munkácsy started to paint during the years he spent in Arad as a joiner. With the help of patrons, he studied at the Viennese, Munich and Düsseldorf academies. He painted his first major work, the outstanding "The Condemned Cell" in Düsseldorf, in 1872, together with his friend László Paál, he moved to Paris, where he lived until the end of his life.Munkácsy painted his genres in the style of realism between 1873 and 1875: "Midnight Ramblers", "Farewell". "Churning Woman", "Woman Carrying Brushwood", and "Pawnshop" were the zenith of his career. He married the widow of Baron de Marches in 1874, and his style changed from that time on. Departing from the typical subjects of realism, he produced colourful salon paintings and still lifes. This was the period when he also turned to ladscape painting; his growing interest is marked by such great paintings as "Dusty Road". "Corn Field", and "Walking in the Woods". The assimilation of László Paál's style is apparent in the landscapes painted during the 1880s, such as "Avenue" and "The Colpach Park". His realist portraits - e.g. of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
and Cardinal Haynald - were also born around this time, together with his religious paintings, such as "Christ in front of Pilate", "Golgotha" and later, "Ecce homo".
Towards the end of his career he painted two monumental works: "Hungarian Conquest" for the House of Parliament and a fresco entitled "Apotheosis of Renaissance", for the ceiling of Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna.
Paintings between 1880 and 1890
He was commissioned to paint the large ceiling painting of the Kunsthistorisches MuseumKunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
in Vienna. The work was titled Glorification of the Renaissance.
Trilogy
The Last Phase : 1887-1896
Munkácsy was an over-sensitive person who was always unsure and always questioning his own talent. By the 1890s his depressionClinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
grew into a severe mental illness which was probably intensified by the syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
he caught in his youth. His last pictures are troubled and sometimes even bizarre (Victim of Flowers, 1896).
Towards the end of his life when disease was demanding more and more of his energy and finally darkness descended on his mind, he accomplished two pictures involving several figures, one is Strike (1896) where he illustrated the subject of the picture, rather unusual at his time, in a new style of character portrayal with the old passionate approach only superficially present.
The exit
It was the summer of 1896 when Munkácsy's health sharply declined. After treatment in Baden-Baden, he was retired to Colpach and Paris. Later he was taken to a mental hospital at EndenichEndenich
Endenich is a neighborhood of Bonn, Germany, since 1904.The village of Endenich was founded in the 8th century, first mentioned in 804 as Villa quae vocatur Antiche .Today, about 12,000 people live in Endenich....
near Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
. He collapsed and died there. On 9 May he was laid to eternal rest in Kerepesi Cemetery.
Munkácsy - The Hungarian Master
Nineteenth century visual art or the historical developments of Hungarian art cannot be discussed without considering Munkácsy 's lifework. His works are considered the apogee of national painting. He was a standard-setter, an oeuvre of reference value. He was one of the few with whom the antiquated colour techniques of 19th century Austro-Hungarian painting reached its most powerful and most lavish expression.Munkácsy in the world
In 2005, the Hungarian National Gallery organized in Budapest the first ever comprehensive exhibition of Munkácsy's paintings scattered throughout the world. As many as 120 pieces were borrowed from different institutions, museums and private collections. The exhibition catalogue published on the occasion, entitled Munkácsy a nagyvilágban (Munkácsy in the World) also included a number of reproductions of his paintings. The three-month exhibition was a feast for Hungarians who had little access to original works of Munkácsy. Paintings by Munkacsy can be seen at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Dayton Institute of Art(Ohio) and the Albany New York Museum of Art and History. There are also paintings by Munkacsy in the Arad Art Museum (Romania) and the Ferenc Mora Art Museum (Szeged, Hungary).External links
- Artworks by Munkácsy
- www.MihalyMunkacsy.org 37 works by Mihaly Munkácsy
- Japan MintJapan MintThe is an Incorporated Administrative Agency of the Japanese government. This agency has its Head office in Osaka with branches in Tokyo and Hiroshima.-History:...
: 2005 International Coin Design Competition -- see competitor design, "In Memoriam Mihály MUNKÁCSY, Master of Hungarian Art of Painting" ... also see "Fine Works" plaster model, Attila Ronay (designer)