Mihaly Munkacsy

{"Id":696,"Name":"Mihaly Munkacsy","Biography":"\u003Cstrong\u003EMUNKACSY, MICHAEL VON (1844-1900),\u003C/strong\u003E Hungarian painter, whose real name was MICHAEL (MICHEL) LEO LIEB, was the third son of Michael Lieb, a collector of salt-tax in Munkacs, Hungary, and of Cecilia Rock. He was born in that town on the 20th of February 1844. In 1848 his father was arrested at Miskolcz for complicity in the Hungarian revolution, and died shortly after his release; a little earlier he had also lost his mother, and became dependent upon the charity of relations, of whom an uncle, Rock, became mainly responsible for his maintenance and education. He was apprenticed to a carpenter, Langi, in 1855, but shortly afterwards made the acquaintance of the painters Fischer and [Elek] Szamossy [1826-1888], whom he accompanied to Arv[?] in 1858. From them he received his first real instructicn in art. He worked mainly at Budapest during 1863-1865, and at this time first adopted, from patriotic motives, the name by which he is always known. In 1865 he visited Vienna, returning to Budapest in the following year, and went thence to Munich, where he contributed a few drawings to the Fliegende Bl\u0026auml;tter [as had \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=548\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EFranz von Stuck\u003C/a\u003E (1863-1928)]. About the end of 1867 he was working at D\u0026uuml;sseldorf, where he was much influenced by \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=936\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003ELudwig Knaus\u003C/a\u003E [1829-1910], and painted (1868-1869) his first picture of importance, \u003Cu\u003EThe Last Day of a Condemned Prisoner\u003C/u\u003E, which was exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1870, and obtained for him a \u003Cem\u003Em\u0026eacute;daille unique\u003C/em\u003E and a very considerable reputation. He had already paid a short visit to Paris in 1867, but on the 25th of January 1872 he took up his permanent abode in that city, and remained there during the rest of his working life. Munk\u0026aacute;csy\u0027s other chief pictures are \u003Cu\u003EMilton dictating \u0027Paradise Lost\u0027 to his Daughters\u003C/u\u003E (Paris Exhibition, 1878), \u003Cu\u003EChrist before Pilate\u003C/u\u003E (1881), \u003Cu\u003EGolgotha\u003C/u\u003E (1883), \u003Cu\u003EThe Death of Mozart\u003C/u\u003E (1884), \u003Cu\u003EArpad, chief of the Magyars, taking possession of Hungary\u003C/u\u003E, painted for the new House of Parliament in Budapest, and exhibited at the Salon in 1893, and \u003Cu\u003EEcce Homo\u003C/u\u003E. He had hardly completed the latter work when a malady of the brain overtook him, and he died on the 30th of April 1900, at Endenich, near Bonn. Just before his last illness he had been offered the directorship of the Hungarian State Gallery at Budapest. Munk\u0026aacute;csy\u0027s masterly characterization, force and power of dramatic composition secured him a great vogue for his works [...]. \u003Cu\u003EChrist before Pilate\u003C/u\u003E and \u003Cu\u003EGolgotha\u003C/u\u003E were sold for 32,000 and 35,000 respectively to an American buyer. Munk\u0026aacute;csy received the following awards for his work exhibited at Paris: Medal, 1870, Medal, 2nd class; Legion of Honor, 1877; Medal of Honour, 1878; Officer of the Legion, 1878; Grand Prix, Exhibition of 1889; Commander of the Legion, 1889.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ESee F. Walther Ilges, \u003Cu\u003EM. von Munk\u0026aacute;csy, Kunstler Monographien\u003C/u\u003E (1899); C. Sedelmeyer, \u003Cu\u003EChrist before Pilate\u003C/u\u003E (Paris, 1886); J. Beavington Atkinson, \u0022Michael Munk\u0026aacute;csy\u0022, \u003Cu\u003EMagazine of Art\u003C/u\u003E (1881). (E. F. S.)\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E Entry on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://87.1911encyclopedia.org/M/MU/MUNKACSY_MICHAEL_VON.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E1911 Edition Encyclopedia\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","BiographicalImageUrl":null,"Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":false,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":133}