MÁNYOKI, Ádám

This portrait of Ferenc R�k�czi II is not only the most beautiful example of Hungarian baroque portrait-painting but also one of M�nyoki’s most outstanding works. It is the finest memento of the Prince, splendidly conveying his distinction of mind and body, his pride, his dignity, his nobility.

Born into the Transylvanian nobility, R�k�czi received a modern education from the Jesuits under the watchful supervision of the Court in Vienna. His studies at the Jesuit schools in Neuhaus and Prague were complemented by travel in Italy where he spent lengthy periods in several large cities and developed a knowledge and appreciation of art. By employing the services of �d�m M�nyoki, he hoped to establish a court art of his own, equal to that of other European courts, and to propagate at the same time his political endeavours through art. These considerations prompted him in 1709 to send his court painter to the Netherlands to study Dutch painting.

In his portrait of R�k�czi M�nyoki made use of all that he had learned in the Netherlands. The picture dates from 1712 and was painted in Gdañsk, Poland, to which country the Prince had emigrated after the defeat of the War of Independence led by him. He is depicted in Hungarian costume adorned with embroidery on the front. The strong light on his face and the contrasting dark hair and fur-cap serve to emphasize the features, thus revealing the artist’s sensitive understanding of the Prince’s character. It is evident that M�nyoki’s study of Dutch portrait-painting had taught him how to produce consistent effect of light and tone and to create a pictorial balance whilst at the same time achieving a subtle degree of characterization in his portraits. In this painting of the exiled Prince the artist has merely hinted at the symbols of royalty. The scarlet dolman worn like a cloak and fastened at the front with a chain of Hungarian goldsmith’s work, is lined with ermine, as befitted a royal personage. Round his neck the Prince is wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, awarded in 1709.

Listen to the MIDI version of the R�k�czi March from Hector Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust.

We know only two self-portraits by M�nyoki: one from his youth, a washed drawing made in 1693 (formerly in Budapest, Lajos Ernst Collection) and this half-figure portrait showing the mature artist. In his charmingly confident craftsman-portrait he depicts himself at work, holding a palette and brushes in his hand, wearing a shirt with rolled-up sleeves, opening over his chest. In a trick of self-portraits popular since Rembrandt, the soft velvet hat with its upturned rim casts a warm brown shadow over the upper half of his face. Those warm reddish-brown half-shades and the tonal richness of the eyes’ area modelled with reflexive lights and kept in shadow represent here a completely new, relaxed pictorial quality as compared to M�nyoki’s painstaking formation of details made by almost drawing with his brush.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):

Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No 6