Visegrád

landscape

The first ambitious composition of Hungarian scenery to be painted in the first half of the last century was by Károly Markó the Elder. He was the first great Hungarian landscape painter and his works were of high distinction, but he was later forced by hard times to earn his living abroad. This scene of Visegrád was painted when he still lived in Hungary.

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About the Artist

Károly the Elder Markó

1791 – 1860

Markó was one of the greatest Hungarian landscapists of the first half of the 19th century. He studied at the Academy in Vienna after 1822. Around 1830 he painted several landscapes depicting the Hungarian regions in Neoclassicist style: Visegrád is the most famous among them. With the help of the banker Geymüller he travelled to Italy in 1832; he spent the rest of his life there. He worked in Rome, Pisa, and Florence. After moving to Italy he worked in the style of the so-called heroic landscape painting. He depicted idealized landscapes with mythological or folkloric figures. Fishermen and The Tivoli Region are the most typical examples of this style. The Puszta (Great Hungarian Plain) is a memento of his visit to Hungary in 1853; this painting reveals the influence of Romanticism .

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