Falképek és kereskedők. Új dokumentumok Pulszky Károly firenzei vásárlásairól 1893 és 1895 között

Abstract

It is well known that the core stock of the collection of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts comprises works purchased by Károly Pulszky. Our knowledge of the director's purchases abroad is based on documents, invoices and letters kept in the Archives of the museum. A great part of these were published in the catalogue of the Pulszky Károly in memoriam exhibition (editor László Mravik, 1988). It revealed that the majority of works standing for the Italian school were bought from or through the good offices of Florentine art dealers between 1893 and 1895. The Pulszky family lived in Florence between 1860 and 1864. During that time the father Ferenc Pulszky visited the galleries of the best known art dealers such as Marco Guastalla and Alessandro Foresi. From the next decade, young Károly also appeared on the art market of Florence as a customer. In these years the sales and transfer of art works abroad were supervised by the regional office of the Rome-based Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione headed by the director of the Regia Reale Gallerie e Musei di Firenze. Ufficio Esportazione still active today was only established in 1909, but earlier export cases can also be researched in its archives. The export permits for art works to be shipped to Hungary in 1893–95 clearly reveal that Károly Pulszky also transported the works he had bought from local art dealers with the permission of this office. The present paper highlights the export permits related to Pulszky's purchases of murals in Florence. The documents reveal that a somewhat larger number of frescoes came to the museum from Florentine art dealers than thought earlier, and our knowledge of the Italian fresco collection of the museum could be extended with some new information. It can also be specified whom Károly Pulszky bought works from, to whom he regularly returned in Florence. He had three permanent suppliers: Emilio Costantini, Achille Glisenti and Luigi Resimini. He made occasional purchases from another three dealers, Elia Volpi, Domenico Caligo and Sabatina Forti.