TORNYAI, János

The painter expanded the poorly furnished country cottage room, left out the superfluous details of the objects (a mirror, a framed picture, a cabinet), so the painting presents a wide tonality range in the rendering of the light coming through the door and the windows, and the dark room painted with earth colours. Tornyai started on his journey to “Hungarian Symbolism” with the figure of the old lady who is resting in a corner, almost apologetically drawn back. By the end of his journey he created excellent works that related to the poetry of Gyula Juh�sz and Endre Ady.

“Legacy” is the most important work of Tornyai. He never considered the first version of the picture to be final which was awarded with a R�th Gy�rgy prize: he kept rethinking it all through his life in order to create it in an artistic way and to sum it up in a “serious picture” before death would prevent him from doing so.

The subject matter of “Legacy” is a drama in a Hungarian village: a very poor peasant family is fighting over how to divide their almost valueless heritage. The scene is a room in a peasant house in V�s�rhely, in the middle there is a long table with the family, grandfather, grown-up sisters, brother in law and a granddaughter sitting around it. Women are fiercely fighting for morsels of the heritage on the mother’s side. The dramatic atmosphere of the picture is largely due to Tornyai’s composition, character portrayal and colours. Emotional tensions emphasize drama: the women’s vehemence is contrasted with the old man sinking into himself and other characters seemingly unconcerned.

Munk�csy’s influence is reflected in the composition, psychology and colours of the picture but its dramatic expression, passionate brushwork, delicately tinted colours, bright colours and deep shadows recall the great predecessor, too. “Legacy” is a picture inspired by 19th c. critical realism.