A pécsi püspökség festészeti gyűjteménye. Művek a 16–19. századból

Abstract

The author presents some findings of the first inventorization of the painting collection in the episcopal palace in Pécs carried out in 2012: out of the inventoried 238 paintings, she publishes 134 in catalogue form until the end of the 19th century. These are the works of the collection that have adequate artistic quality, art historical significance or historical implications (awaiting further research as well). A great part of the collection has so far been unpublished, lacking name of painter, date of making, and often even accurate definition of the theme. The present publication arranging the items into historical and thematic units wishes to stop this gap, with the provenance of the pictures also given or suggested where there are sufficient clues for research. A considerable portion of works in the Pécs palace do not belong to the 18th, early 19th century furnishings of a bishop’s residence (Pécs, Mecseknádasd, Mohács). There are very many paintings removed from ecclesiastical function; they derive from the 19th century equipment of the church prior to the 1882 reconstruction, from the old chapel of the bishop’s palace, from the seminary chapel, and the monasteries of Franciscans, Sisters of Mercy or the nuns of Notre Dame. Several works were bequests or deposits from secular loci after World War II. A few were purchased from the art trade in the late 19th-early 20th century, first of all to decorate the palace. In addition to the inventorization of the stock and the dates of individual works, these conclusions could be inferred from three inventories of the equipment of the episcopal palace taken in 1777 and 1778 (after bishop György Klimó’s death) and in 1838 (after bishop Ignác Szepesy’s death), also used for the processing of the stock. In general it can be concluded that when issuing a commission, the choice was evidently the artists’ circle of the Viennese court from the baroque period and later of the Academy, and the acquisitions from the art trade later were also mostly of Viennese origin. The catalogue is divided as follows: I. Portraits of ecclesiastic persons; II. Acquisitions and commissioned works of bishop György Klimó; III. Acquisitions and commissioned works of bishop Pál László Esterházy; IV. Commissioned works of bishop János Scitovszky and works from the 19th century equipment of the cathedral; V. Acquisitions and commissioned works of bishop Nándor Dulánszky; VI. Works that came into the episcopal palace after World War II; VII. Works of unknown provenance; VIII. Copies of pictures with miraculous powers; IX. Variants of copies from the 18th century and artistic replicas from the 19th century.