Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sixteenth century on the floor above. To get there without returning to the foyer, use the small
staircase outside the doors to this section and turn left, left and left again at the top.
First floor
The
first floor
covers the widest range of art and is likely to engage you the longest. It
picks up where the ground floor left off in the former Throne Room, where
late Gothic al-
tarpieces
with soaring pinnacles and carved surrounds are displayed. Most of them come
from churches now in Slovakia or Romania, such as the Annunciation altarpiece from
Csíkmenaság (now Armaseni in Romania) or the homely St Anne altarpiece from Kisszeben
(Sabinov, Slovakia), which looks like a medieval playgroup. On an altar from Berki
(Rokycany, Slovakia), Mary Magdalene is raptured by angels as bishops are impaled, while
another piece from Liptószentandrás (Liptovsky Ondrej, Slovakia) shows St Andrew clutch-
ing the poles for his crucifixion. Also look out for
TheVisitation
by the anonymous “Master
MS”, in the anteroom, and the coffered
ceiling
from Gogánváralija (Gogan-Varolea, Ro-
mania), in the room behind the Kisszeben Annunciation altarpiece.
Many of the works in the adjacent section on
Baroque art
once belonged to Count Miklós
Esterházy (including his portrait), or were confiscated from private owners in the 1950s. The
prolific Austrian
AntonMaulbertsch
, who executed scores of altars and murals reminiscent
of Caravaggio, is represented here by works such as
The Death of St Joseph
. On the back of
one panel running across the room, don't miss
Ádám Mányoki
's portrait of Ferenc Rákóczi
II from 1712, a sober study of a national hero that foreshadowed a new artistic genre of
Na-
tional Historical art
in the nineteenth century.
Peoplecomingupthe
mainstairs
fromtheticketofficewillfind,attherearofthemid-floor
landing, two vast canvases by
Peter Krafft
.
Zrínyi'
s
Sortie
depicts the suicidal sally by the
defenders of Szigetvár against a Turkish army fifty times their number; not a drop of blood
spatters the melee, as Count Zrínyi leads the charge across the bridge. The other shows Franz
Josef being crowned King of Hungary in equally slavish detail. Facing you in the large first-
floor
atrium
is
Gyula Benczúr
's
Reoccupying of Buda Castle
, whose portrayal of Eugene
of Savoy and Karl of Lotharingia suggests a mere exchange of Turkish rulers for Habsburg
ones, while
The Bewailing of László Hunyadi
by
Viktor Madarász
(hung off towards Wing
D) would have been read as an allusion to the execution of Hungarian patriots after the War
of Independence. At the other end, near Wing B, you'll find
Sándor Lilzen-Mayer
's
St El-
izabeth of Hungary
offering her ermine cape to a ragged mother and child, and two iconic
scenes by
BertalanSzékely
:
The Battle of Mohács
, a shattering defeat for the Hungarians in
1526; and
The Women of Eger
, exalting their defiance of the Turks in 1552.
The remainder of the first floor illustrates other trends in nineteenth-century Hungarian art,
namely genre painting,
rural romanticism
and Impressionism. On the Buda side of Wing
C,
Thunderstorm on the Puszta
and
Horses at the Watering Place
evoke the hazy skies and
