Lot 43: GYULA BENCZÚR HUNGARIAN, 1844-1920

signed and dated Benczúr Gyula / München 1876 l.l.

oil on canvas

87 by 115cm., 34 1/4 by 45 1/4 in.

Sale: Sotheby's New York, 7 May 1998, lot 209
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Benczúr trained as a history painter at the Munich Academy under Karl von Piloty, although after 1870 he adopted an increasingly plein air aesthetic. This change was no doubt influenced by the major Courbet exhibition held in Munich in 1869, which also left a lasting impression on his friend and fellow painter Pál Szinyei Merse (see fig. 1). In 1882 Benczúr became Director of the new Budapest Academy.