János Valentiny

Boy with Violin (1878)
Beach in Italy (1875)

János Valentiny (1 January 1842, Nagylak - 25 February 1902, Nádasdladány) was a Hungarian painter of portraits, landscapes and genre scenes. His international reputation is based on his realistic, unromanticized portrayals of the Hungarian Romani (Gypsies).[1]

Biography

He was sent to Baja for his primary education, and displayed an interest in drawing as a hobby. Soon, he was producing color portraits of his friends and family and saved enough money to move to Pest, where he studied at the "First Hungarian Academy of painting under Jakab Marastoni.[2] He attracted the attention of Leó Festetics, who recommended him to Count Leopold Nádasdy as a drawing teacher for the Count's son. He was accepted and moved to Nádasdladány to take up his new position, still aged only seventeen.[1]

With the Count's encouragement, he went to Paris, where he obtained the patronage of Richard Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg (1829–1895), the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, by which means he was able to enroll at the Academy.[2] He stayed in Paris for three years, returning to Nádasdladány in 1868, where he established himself as a painter. After a time, he wanted to return to Paris, but the Commune thwarted his plans. In 1873, he spent a year in Munich, where he found a ready market for his genre scenes.

It was there he first felt the desire to visit Italy. He toured Capri and spent some time in Rome, participating in a few exhibitions. In 1878, he returned to Munich and produced paintings showing his newly acquired Italian influences, but remained only a short time before settling permanently in Nádasdladány.[1] In addition to his canvases, he was commissioned by Count Ferenc Nádasdy (1801-1883), the former Chancellor of Transylvania, to paint an altarpiece depicting Saint Helena in memory of the Count's wife.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Biography and appreciation by István Dömötör @ Művészet, 1902.
  2. 1 2 3 Brief biography from A Pallas nagy lexikona @ the Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár.
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