Imperial portraits bound in leather
The Barkóczy album in the library of the Eger diocese
MúzeumCafé 22.
Thanks to Bishop Károly Eszterházy, a library with 16,000 volumes opened in the Eger Lyceum in 1793. Today there are 160,000 works, including 34 codices, 98 incunabula and many invaluable manuscripts. Among those the so-called Barkóczy album is aesthetically the most precious. Ferenc Barkóczy was born in 1710. He studied in Kassa (today Košice), Nagyszombat (Trnava) and then, from 1729, in Rome, where he was a student at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum. He was appointed Bishop of Eger by Maria Theresa in 1744. In 1761 he was appointed Archbishop of Esztergom. The full title of the Barkóczy album is ‘Album Sodalitatis S(anctis)s(i)mi Altaris Sacramen(ti) In Cathedrali Ecclesia Agriensi Pro Alma Diocesi Agriensi Per Indulta(m) Apostolica(m) Authoritate(m) Excell(entissi)mi Ill(ust)r(issi)mi ac R(everendissi)mi Domini Francisci Episcopi Agriensis e comitibus Barkoczy de Szala Perpetui in Pálócz Comitatuum Heves et Exterior Szolnok Supremi Ac Perp(etui) Com(itis) Sacra(tissi)mar(um) Caes(arearum) M(aies)t(a)tum Status Cons(iliarii) Act(ualis) Intimi Erectae Anno a partu Virginis MDCCLVII.. Under the text on the title page and above three coats of arms there is the bishop kneeling with dynastic figures. Barkóczy was very close to the royal court and he clearly wished to win over members of the royal family as supporters of the society he established. Thus, apart from on the title page and bishop’s (last) page, five parchment sheets contain aquarelle portraits of royal family members with their own signatures and mottos. The second page has an image of Francis Stephen of Lorraine, the husband of Maria Theresa, who appears on page three. The Empress was born in Vienna in 1717. She was 19 when she fell in love with and married Francis Stephen, and it was probably from him that she learnt the ‘science of ruling’. Their marriage resulted in the birth of 16 children, of whom 13 survived and grew up. She strove to organise favourable marriages for her children, creating in the process a dynasty spreading across virtually the whole of Europe. Amidst the clouds in the picture of Maria Theresa there is a round loaf set in the golden rays of a sheaf with the following text: ‘Panem, quem vidimus non est aliud’. The fourth illustration shows the crown prince, the future Joseph II. In the fifth picture the other male children of the ruling couple are depicted with their mottos: ‘Fortitudo et Prudentia’ (Valour and Wisdom) Carolus. 1757’ and ‘Pietate et armis’ (Piety and Arms) Leopoldus. 1757’. The sixth image is of seven royal princesses. Interestingly, in 1757 Maria Theresa had eight living daughters. Perhaps the explanation is that Maria Antonia was two years old and still quite small. On the other hand, the previous page contains an image of a one-year-old Archduke Maximilian. Ferenc Barkóczy is shown praying in the seventh picture. The creator of these images is unknown, but was probably a Viennese miniaturist. Of special interest – which attracted increased attention in later years – is that the battle of Kolín is depicted in the background of the Maria Theresa picture.