Axel Vécsey | Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (original) (raw)
Books by Axel Vécsey
Bilingual (Hungarian & English) catalogue of a focus exhibition in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Buda... more Bilingual (Hungarian & English) catalogue of a focus exhibition in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest, 2006.
Intended for the general public, this colloquial text sought to provide an introduction to the exhibition's locus: Titian's so-called 'Young Englishman' (Pitti, Florence) in the context of Renaissance male portraiture in general.
A souvenir guidebook of the Szépművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Budapest. Eighty-nine hig... more A souvenir guidebook of the Szépművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Budapest. Eighty-nine highlights from the museum's collections, from a cycladic idol to a sculpture by Antoni Tàpies. Axel Vécsey edited the volume and authored the introduction as well as the entries on each of the 35 old master paintings.
The pdf uploaded here includes the introduction and a few sample pages.
Papers by Axel Vécsey
"Caravaggio to Canaletto: The Glory of Italian Baroque and Rococo Painting" (Exh. cat., Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 2013-4). Edited by Zsuzsanna Dobos. ISBN 978-615-5304-18-7.
This essay offers a comprehensive history of the Hungarian reception of Italian Baroque and Rococ... more This essay offers a comprehensive history of the Hungarian reception of Italian Baroque and Rococo painting, including contemporary commissions, Italian artists working in Hungary, collecting, and criticism.
An overview of the paintings by or after Jacopo Bassano and his family in Hungarian collections, ... more An overview of the paintings by or after Jacopo Bassano and his family in Hungarian collections, in the context of the history of taste and collectionism.
The paper was conceived as a lecture held at the conference 'Jacopo Bassano: I figli, la scuola, l’eredità' (Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa, 30 March 2011).
Rather than a copy of the printed matter, the version uploaded here is the text of the lecture with all the slides presented at the conference. Most of these illustrations were obviously impossible to be included in the printed version.
Németalföldtől Rómáig: Válogatás a Zichy-gyűjtemény legszebb festményeiből és szobraiból. Székesfehérvár, 2014
(IN HUNGARIAN) Edmund Zichy (1811–1894), besides his prominent activity in promoting art and indu... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Edmund Zichy (1811–1894), besides his prominent activity in promoting art and industry, was a remarkable collector of paintings. A conscious conception of collecting can be traced in the main pillars of his collection, which is in parallel with Zichy’s programme for the promotion of the arts in Hungary. Although the collection displays some similarities to those of Zichy's contemporaries, it has two specific characteristics which make it somewhat unconventional. First, Zichy was keen on collecting works by Jan Kupecký, who was considered as a Hungarian artist during the collector’s lifetime. Second, he was also eager to acquire works which previously formed part of some of the dispersed art collections of famous earlier Hungarian amateurs.
Szenvedély és tudás: Bedő Rudolf műgyűjteménye. Kieselbach Galéria, Budapest, 2010
(IN HUNGARIAN) Overview of the old master paintings and sculptures in the celebrated collection o... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Overview of the old master paintings and sculptures in the celebrated collection of Rudolf Bedő (1891-1978), including lesser-known works by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Luca Giordano, Alessandro Magnasco, Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Francesco Fontebasso, Giuseppe Bazzani, Pietro Rotari, Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Carlo Innocenzo Carlone, Johann Lucas Kracker, Gioacchino Pizzoli, Johann Heinrich Schönfeld, Januarius Zick, Bartolomé de Castro, the Villalobos Master, the Master of the Rinuccini Chapel, Girolamo Mocetto, Francesco Rizzo di Santacroce, etc.
A rich Jewish-Hungarian entrepeneur with a passion and an excellent eye for art, Rudolf Bedő lost the larger part of his celebrated art collection during the second World War. Ironically though, it was not seized by the Nazis but the Bristish, after Bedő sent the more valuable works to London for safekeeping during the war. While the other part of the collection, which remained in Hungary during the war, survived in Bedő’s possession, the paintings in London were confiscated by the British authorities as „property of a resident of an enemy country” under the Trading with the Enemy Act, until eventually sold at auction in 1955 (!).
Bedő survived the war (unlike his siter who died in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp), but during the Communist rule his factories were, similarly to any other private asset in the country, confiscated. From then on, he made a living as an art historian, serving as an editor of an art-historical research journal and publishing several important articles on old masters as well as 20th-century art.
Geest en gratie: Essays Presented to Ildikó Ember on Her Seventieth Birthday. Budapest, 2012, pp. 138-141.
This short Festschrift article traces the provenance of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli's Holy Family, wh... more This short Festschrift article traces the provenance of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli's Holy Family, which is today in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest. It is identified as formerly belonging to the celebrated Orléans gallery, before having been acquired by Prince Paul Esterházy in London during the 1830s or '40s.
The article also contains some hitherto unrecorded provenance data on two further paintings in Budapest: Simone Peterzano's Venus Playing the Lute and Bernardo Strozzi's Tribute Money.
Als ich can – Tanulmányok Urbach Zsuzsa 80. születésnapjára, 2013
(IN HUNGARIAN) Short notice on the relationship between the greatest Hungarian art collector, Mik... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Short notice on the relationship between the greatest Hungarian art collector, Miklós Esterházy II (1765-1833) and his mentor Anton von Lamberg-Sprinzenstein (1740-1822), involving the exchange of a painting by Hendrik van Balen (today Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest)
Artmagazin (Budapest), no. 84 (vol. 13: no. 10), 2015
(IN HUNGARIAN) Iconography and morale in the portrait historié of László Festetics as Hercules on... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Iconography and morale in the portrait historié of László Festetics as Hercules on the Crossroads, painted by Johan Jakob Stunder in 1805.
"Vom Mythos der Antike" (exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2008)., 2008
Catalogue entry on Lorenzo Lotto's "The Sleeping Apollo with the Muses Dispersing and Fame Fleein... more Catalogue entry on Lorenzo Lotto's "The Sleeping Apollo with the Muses Dispersing and Fame Fleeing" (Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest).
Owing to the exhibition's focus, the entries lay an emphasis on the provenance and later criticis... more Owing to the exhibition's focus, the entries lay an emphasis on the provenance and later criticism of the paintings.
Artmagazin (Budapest), Vol 6, no. 4. , 2008
(IN HUNGARIAN) An overview of the collection of 17th-19th-century British paintings in the Szépmű... more (IN HUNGARIAN) An overview of the collection of 17th-19th-century British paintings in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest.
Bilingual (Hungarian & English) catalogue of a focus exhibition in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Buda... more Bilingual (Hungarian & English) catalogue of a focus exhibition in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest, 2006.
Intended for the general public, this colloquial text sought to provide an introduction to the exhibition's locus: Titian's so-called 'Young Englishman' (Pitti, Florence) in the context of Renaissance male portraiture in general.
A souvenir guidebook of the Szépművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Budapest. Eighty-nine hig... more A souvenir guidebook of the Szépművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Budapest. Eighty-nine highlights from the museum's collections, from a cycladic idol to a sculpture by Antoni Tàpies. Axel Vécsey edited the volume and authored the introduction as well as the entries on each of the 35 old master paintings.
The pdf uploaded here includes the introduction and a few sample pages.
"Caravaggio to Canaletto: The Glory of Italian Baroque and Rococo Painting" (Exh. cat., Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 2013-4). Edited by Zsuzsanna Dobos. ISBN 978-615-5304-18-7.
This essay offers a comprehensive history of the Hungarian reception of Italian Baroque and Rococ... more This essay offers a comprehensive history of the Hungarian reception of Italian Baroque and Rococo painting, including contemporary commissions, Italian artists working in Hungary, collecting, and criticism.
An overview of the paintings by or after Jacopo Bassano and his family in Hungarian collections, ... more An overview of the paintings by or after Jacopo Bassano and his family in Hungarian collections, in the context of the history of taste and collectionism.
The paper was conceived as a lecture held at the conference 'Jacopo Bassano: I figli, la scuola, l’eredità' (Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa, 30 March 2011).
Rather than a copy of the printed matter, the version uploaded here is the text of the lecture with all the slides presented at the conference. Most of these illustrations were obviously impossible to be included in the printed version.
Németalföldtől Rómáig: Válogatás a Zichy-gyűjtemény legszebb festményeiből és szobraiból. Székesfehérvár, 2014
(IN HUNGARIAN) Edmund Zichy (1811–1894), besides his prominent activity in promoting art and indu... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Edmund Zichy (1811–1894), besides his prominent activity in promoting art and industry, was a remarkable collector of paintings. A conscious conception of collecting can be traced in the main pillars of his collection, which is in parallel with Zichy’s programme for the promotion of the arts in Hungary. Although the collection displays some similarities to those of Zichy's contemporaries, it has two specific characteristics which make it somewhat unconventional. First, Zichy was keen on collecting works by Jan Kupecký, who was considered as a Hungarian artist during the collector’s lifetime. Second, he was also eager to acquire works which previously formed part of some of the dispersed art collections of famous earlier Hungarian amateurs.
Szenvedély és tudás: Bedő Rudolf műgyűjteménye. Kieselbach Galéria, Budapest, 2010
(IN HUNGARIAN) Overview of the old master paintings and sculptures in the celebrated collection o... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Overview of the old master paintings and sculptures in the celebrated collection of Rudolf Bedő (1891-1978), including lesser-known works by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Luca Giordano, Alessandro Magnasco, Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Francesco Fontebasso, Giuseppe Bazzani, Pietro Rotari, Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Carlo Innocenzo Carlone, Johann Lucas Kracker, Gioacchino Pizzoli, Johann Heinrich Schönfeld, Januarius Zick, Bartolomé de Castro, the Villalobos Master, the Master of the Rinuccini Chapel, Girolamo Mocetto, Francesco Rizzo di Santacroce, etc.
A rich Jewish-Hungarian entrepeneur with a passion and an excellent eye for art, Rudolf Bedő lost the larger part of his celebrated art collection during the second World War. Ironically though, it was not seized by the Nazis but the Bristish, after Bedő sent the more valuable works to London for safekeeping during the war. While the other part of the collection, which remained in Hungary during the war, survived in Bedő’s possession, the paintings in London were confiscated by the British authorities as „property of a resident of an enemy country” under the Trading with the Enemy Act, until eventually sold at auction in 1955 (!).
Bedő survived the war (unlike his siter who died in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp), but during the Communist rule his factories were, similarly to any other private asset in the country, confiscated. From then on, he made a living as an art historian, serving as an editor of an art-historical research journal and publishing several important articles on old masters as well as 20th-century art.
Geest en gratie: Essays Presented to Ildikó Ember on Her Seventieth Birthday. Budapest, 2012, pp. 138-141.
This short Festschrift article traces the provenance of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli's Holy Family, wh... more This short Festschrift article traces the provenance of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli's Holy Family, which is today in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest. It is identified as formerly belonging to the celebrated Orléans gallery, before having been acquired by Prince Paul Esterházy in London during the 1830s or '40s.
The article also contains some hitherto unrecorded provenance data on two further paintings in Budapest: Simone Peterzano's Venus Playing the Lute and Bernardo Strozzi's Tribute Money.
Als ich can – Tanulmányok Urbach Zsuzsa 80. születésnapjára, 2013
(IN HUNGARIAN) Short notice on the relationship between the greatest Hungarian art collector, Mik... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Short notice on the relationship between the greatest Hungarian art collector, Miklós Esterházy II (1765-1833) and his mentor Anton von Lamberg-Sprinzenstein (1740-1822), involving the exchange of a painting by Hendrik van Balen (today Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest)
Artmagazin (Budapest), no. 84 (vol. 13: no. 10), 2015
(IN HUNGARIAN) Iconography and morale in the portrait historié of László Festetics as Hercules on... more (IN HUNGARIAN) Iconography and morale in the portrait historié of László Festetics as Hercules on the Crossroads, painted by Johan Jakob Stunder in 1805.
"Vom Mythos der Antike" (exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2008)., 2008
Catalogue entry on Lorenzo Lotto's "The Sleeping Apollo with the Muses Dispersing and Fame Fleein... more Catalogue entry on Lorenzo Lotto's "The Sleeping Apollo with the Muses Dispersing and Fame Fleeing" (Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest).
Owing to the exhibition's focus, the entries lay an emphasis on the provenance and later criticis... more Owing to the exhibition's focus, the entries lay an emphasis on the provenance and later criticism of the paintings.
Artmagazin (Budapest), Vol 6, no. 4. , 2008
(IN HUNGARIAN) An overview of the collection of 17th-19th-century British paintings in the Szépmű... more (IN HUNGARIAN) An overview of the collection of 17th-19th-century British paintings in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest.