"Until 31 December: This exhibition features many pieces from the marvellous private art collection of a fabulously rich aristocratic family.Characterised by a unique richness and versatility of genre. It includes glittering precious metal objects, jewellery, valuable weapons, beautiful textiles – mainly aristocratic costumes – and large-size full portraits depicting some important events from the early history of the Esterházy family.
The majority of the works of art exposed were made in the 16th-17th centuries. The artists who made them – among others Hans Petzolt from Nurnberg, the Drentwett artist family from Augsburg and the renowned Hungarian goldsmiths and silversmiths of the age – rank among the most talented and outstanding masters of the European mannerist and baroque applied arts.
The exhibition, however, does not only want to delight and “fascinate” its visitors. Understanding and in response to the growing interest shown in the history of art collection nowadays, the organisers of the exhibition endeavoured to show, through a selection of works of art and the composition of the exhibition, the most important periods of the creation and extension of this collection.
The organisers present and explain the individual works of art with the aim of “guiding visitors through” the history of these treasures from the beginning to the 20th century. In this context, a special emphasis is placed on the most prominent figures of the Esterházy family who founded the wealth and rank of the family, and who played and important role in the Central European history of politics and war in the 17th century.
The rich illustrative material accompanying the works of art exposed will include contemporary portraits (copperplate engravings and their reproductions) of these family members and other renowned persons of the age related to them."
More from the source: Budapestinfo.hu
21.12.2008