The worlds of Széchenyi
Exhibition about “the greatest Hungarian” at the Hungarian National Museum
MúzeumCafé 21.
It’s a fortunate occurrence that this exhibition at the National Museum about Count István Széchenyi has been organised under the guidance of one of the most outstanding Széchenyi scholars who also happens to be the museum’s director. Five worlds – five exhibition rooms. What, then, were the worlds of “the greatest Hungarian”? The first world concerns how Széchenyi changed under the influence of his environment. To what extent was this ordinary and to what extent unusual in comparison with his aristocratic contemporaries? The stated intention that this room provide adequate information for foreign visitors is a good one, and that aim is well served throughout the entire exhibition by texts in both English and Hungarian. Each world has its emblematic object, which in the first room is a water-colour by Johann Nepomuk Ender, one of the best Viennese portrait and landscape painters who accompanied Széchenyi on his travels through Italy, Greece and Turkey in 1818-1819. Like the count, he travelled a lot in Italy and later visited Hungary and Transylvania where he made the acquaintance of the Englishman John Paget, whose Sketches on the Danube, Hungary and Transylvania was published in 1838. Paget wrote in his dedication that inspiration for the work had come from making the acquaintance of Count István Széchenyi whom he had met in England and who had had a great influence on him. A copy of the volume is held by the Historical Picture Gallery of the Hungarian National Museum and arguably represents the clearest expression of the influence Széchenyi could have. The central focus of the second world is a bridge, namely the Chain Bridge, which facilitated the birth of a modern metropolis. The bridge symbolises all the endeavours which occupied Széchenyi’s intellect in the closing years of the Reform Age. Reflecting that, the central work here is Miklós Barabás’s huge painting depicting the laying of the foundation stone of the Chain Bridge. The third room concerns a world which in general is little known about, although it is central to an understanding of Széchenyi’s personality, namely the full decade he spent at an asylum in Döbling, which was by no means a period of intellectual decline or inactivity. While there Széchenyi at first began to write, then he transformed his living quarters into a kind of centre where increasing numbers of visitors came and where he concerned himself more and more with political questions of the day. A dramatic world is outlined here, centrally represented by Széchenyi’s armchair. The fourth world covers the cult of Széchenyi, which began to form already before his death. A special ensemble of memorial plaques, statues, literary studies, letters and medals clearly demonstrates what his contemporaries and others in succeeding generations thought about Széchenyi and how they considered him. In Hungary’s history no other outstanding personality has given rise to so many cult pictures and objects. The display is especially instructive today and it is worth reflecting that it is not only exhibitions of outstanding art treasures that are worth organising.