
Hungary Sculpture
In sculpture, the new realism soon emerged with the work of the brothers Giorgio and Martino di Kolozsvár (equestrian statue of St. George in Prague, bronze of 1373). Their art came out of Hungarian goldsmith’s art, rich and original in motifs and techniques. The ancient Hungarian goldsmiths had many contacts with the Italian one, as a consequence of the fact that many Hungarian goldsmiths worked, especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in Italy (Giovanni delle Bombarde and Giovanni di Giacomo in Siena), and vice versa Italian goldsmiths (Pietro and Niccolò Gallico, 14th century) worked in Hungary. The most characteristic technique of Hungarian goldsmithing of that era, the so-called filigree enamel, is also of Italian origin, and which soon died out in Italy, revived, transformed with splendid flowering,
According to Smber, the filigree enamel with its Hungarian forms has also passed into Poland (treasure of the church of St. Mary in Krakow, etc.). The upper part (first half of the 14th century) of the most splendid Hungarian goldsmith’s work, the Calvary of Mattia Corvino (treasure of Esztergom), which is very close to the reliquary of Montalto, is the work of a Hungarian goldsmith, made in Italy ; while the base is an Italian work, executed around 1460-1470 for King Mattia Corvino.
The wood sculpture of the century. XV is related to that of Austria, Poland and Germany and played an important part in the formation of European sculpture. Giacomo di Kassa (Košice) also worked in Vienna and Germany towards the middle of the century, and had a decisive influence on the fate of German sculpture. Stefano di Kassa was the greatest decorator sculptor of the second half of the century. XV. The master Paolo, author of the high altar of Lőcse (Levoča), joined the Hungarian sculpture with the Polish one, under the influence of Veit Stoss. Stone carving was rather oriented towards the new taste of the Renaissance, which Hungary welcomed ahead of other countries.
The introduction of the new Renaissance art and civilization in Hungary was the merit of King Mattia Corvinus and the great prelates, especially the archbishop of Esztergom, who called in Italian artists and imported Italian works. Among the artists who came to Buda, we find Benedetto da Maiano, Aristotle Fioravanti, Chimentiicie, Baccio Cellini, Francesco Italo; and they worked for Mattia il Verrocchio, Filippino Lippi, Cristoforo Romano, the illuminators Attavante and Gherardo, etc. The Hungarian Renaissance in its first phase was a noble art and spread in the various cities of the country only in the sixteenth century, after the death of the great king, lover and lover of the arts. King Matthias rebuilt his palace in Buda according to the new taste of which, after the destruction by the Turks, only a few but beautiful fragments remain. The primates of Esztergom also had their palace redecorated. Filippino Lippi drew a cartoon of a large fresco there. Francesco Francia executed for the primate Ippolito d’Este, nephew of Mattia Corvino, a splendid cross, adorned with reliefs and exquisite jewels, which later became the apostolic cross of the kingdom. Filippino Lippi and Pinturicchio designed figures and decorations for chasubles. Cardinal Tommaso Bakócz in 1507 added to the cathedral of Esztergom a chapel in pure Italian Renaissance style, built and decorated by Italian artists in beautiful local red marble, which was the preferred material of the Hungarian Renaissance and was also exported to Poland, where the he new art spread largely through Hungary. L’ The altar in white marble of the chapel is the work of Andrea Ferrucci from Fiesole in 1519. In a second long phase, the style of the Renaissance in Hungary was transformed by local masters. They are examples, in sculpture, the Madonna Báthory (National Museum, 1526), in the painting, the aforementioned altar of the Annunciation of Kassa and the altarpiece by Giovanni Babocsay in the same place. In architecture it was formed, especially in the northern regions, in the Szepes (Spiš) and Sáros (Sariš) committees, under the inspiration of the architecture of Venice (Procuratie Vecchie, etc.) and of Verona (bishop’s palace), partly in contact with the parallel evolution of Polish architecture, a style characterized by massive and closed construction and high battlements often decorated with graffiti (Bethlenfalva [Betlanovce], Frics [Fričovce], Lőcse [Levoča], Késmárk [Kežmarok], Eperes [Prešov]). The architectural forms of the Hungarian Renaissance lasted until the end of the eighteenth century: and the same happened in Transylvania,
The Turkish domination, which extended over two thirds of Hungary from 1526 to 1686, largely halted the artistic evolution especially in the central territories, including the capital Buda. The western and northern regions under the Habsburg dynasty remained in close relationship with Austrian art and, through this, again with the Italian one, as a source of the Baroque in central Europe. Italian artists continued to immigrate to Hungary, partly directly from Italy, and particularly those who rebuilt the castles according to the new ways, such as Francesco di Spazio in Győr (Giavarino), Niccolò da Milano (1526), Pietro Ferabosco (1568), Ottavio Baldigara (1568) in Eger, Alessandro Vitelli, Filippo Tornielli (1527), Gabrio Serbelloni, Paolo della Mirandola, Cesare Baldigara (17th century) in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) and many others, who, after the expulsion of the Turk, rebuilt the destroyed churches and palaces. Carlo Martino Carlone executed the design of the Eszterházy palace in Kismarton (Eisenstadt), later built by Sebastiano Bartoletti and Antonio Carlone (1663-70). Giambattista Carlone directed the factory of the castle of Pozsony (Bratislava) from 1635 to 1646. GB Carlone the Younger was the builder of the Jesuit college in Eger (1717), Carlo Justi built the Toldolaghy palace in 1790 in Kolozsvár (Cluj). Giambattista Ricca was the architect of the cathedral, the bishop’s palace and the seminary of Nagyvárad (Oradea Mare). The Bibbiena family worked as decorators in Pozsony. Other architects who have already established themselves in Vienna, like Giovanni Luca Hildebrandt and Melchiore Hefele worked in Hungary. In the north-eastern regions, which for some time were under the dominion of Prince Francis II Rákóczy, the Baroque architecture is less sumptuous, less capricious and overloaded than in the regions close to Austria, where the more pretentious architecture of the court of Vienna. Under the Carpazî and up to Kassa (Košice; formerly a Jesuit church and later a Premonstratensian church, 1671-1682), the former residence of the principality of Rákóczy, the long persistence of the local Renaissance is evident in the attenuated forms of the Baroque; and following this, neoclassicism soon appeared and especially in Kassa. The grandiose Viennese Baroque architecture was transformed and simplified in various other cities, in Budapest, in Győr, in Székesfehérvár,
The great mural decoration flourished again, of which the most notable masters were Maulbertsch, Dorfmeister, Troger, Bergl, followers of Tiepolo and late Venetian painting. Austrian by birth, they worked extensively in Hungary. Some Italian painters, such as Tencalla and Antonio Bibbiena, also worked in this late phase of the Baroque, which was the richest in works for Hungary. Among the sculptors we must remember the Viennese Raffaello Giorgio Donner, a pupil of Giuliani. While the Austrian artists, protected by the court of Vienna, found their fortune in Hungary, some Hungarian artists, Giovanni Spillenberger jun. (1628-1679), Giacomo Bogdány (1660-1724), Giovanni Kupeczky (1667-1740), Adamo Mányoky (1673-1757), once a court painter of Francis II Rákóczy, worked abroad, in Vienna, in the Poland,
The Viennese influence continued in the first half of the century. XIX, but the traditional links with Italian art became more and more frequent. The most notable architect of Hungarian neoclassicism, Michele Pollak, Viennese by birth, but Hungarian by adoption and for his work (1773-1885; National Museum, Ludoviceum Military Academy, Szapáry palaces, now Zichy, Festetich, etc., in Budapest), branches off together with his older brother, Leopoldo Pollak, a Milanese architect, from the art of Piermarini; and the study of the Palladian villas of the Veneto is also reflected in him. Pest, supported by the revival of national and literary life, increasingly became the center of artistic activity. Alongside the Pollak, Giuseppe Hild (1789-1867) and the romantic Federico Feszl (1821-1884) took part in the ever-increasing expansion of the capital.