Polgar Auctionhouse

90th Christmas Art auction, 1st session: paintings, sculpture

Oil on canvas 34,5 x 40 cm.
Signed lower right.: Szinyei ;
Oeuvre cat no.: 234. by Hoffmann Edith ,
Oeuvre cat no. 252. By Szinyei Merse Anna
Provenience:
Formerly in the possession of Szinyei Merse Félix, later in the holding of the Szinyei Merse family.
Literature: Hoffmann Edith: Szinyei Merse Pál. Budapest, OMSZN, 1943, page 52 (cat. 234.)
Szinyei Merse Félix: Memories of my father. Magyar Mûvészet, 1948/3, page 120-126 (
Rabinovszky Máriusz: The greatness and the decadence of Szinyei Merse. Magyarok, October 1948 page 617-620; Republished: Rabinovszky Máriusz: On the verge of two eras (Selected art publications)
Budapest, Corvina Kiadó, 1965, page 57-61.
Reproduction :
Szabó Júlia: One Painting of the Auction, Mûgyûjtõ, 1973/1, page 36-37.
Szinyei Merse Anna: The Life and Art of Szinyei Merse Pál. Budapest, MNG – Published by Corvina Kiadó –
Széchenyi Kiadó, 1990, page 143 and 207 (cat. 252)Bizományi Áruház Vállalat, 29. Képaukció, Budapest, Dec 1972 (cat.306.)
Exhibited :
Szinyei Merse Pál mûveibõl rendezett emlékkiállítás, Országos Magyar Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, 20 March 1948 - ? (cat. 47.)
LISTED WORK OF ART
'He was seeking shelter in nature and nature set his mind at rest again. He was able to gather all his strength for a final deed; to sketch The Lovers he had painfully missed and had been looking for in vain for almost fifty years. Keeping its photo as well as the pictures of his sold paintings in his room, he often told his children about it, who kept on asking him again and again to paint it for them, by and large, on the base of that photograph, as they were eager to see its coloration. The time had come and the artist, there you are, in his final creation, took a sharp turn back to his glorious era that had brought him the most honorable achievements . In the meantime the original painting dated 1870 has also emerged, so a comparison can be drawn between the two versions: On the latter one the landscape does not remain in the background as much as on the former one, the lovers’ figures are not so domineering. The merge of human and nature on the late coloration is more interdependent, we should say, more modern.
This reminding repetition of the composition can not be considered as a recall copy of the original one, rather the mature treat of a problem, where the changes of artistic idols of the passing period are also given room though probably it was not intentional. “
quote from the book of Anna Szinyei Merse: The Life and Art of Pal Szinyei Merse, published by Corvina Kiado, Szechenyi Kiado Kft, 1990, page 143.