13102

UNTRACED
Dezső Szilágyi 1894
Three-quarter length, standing, turning slightly to the left, full-face, gazing upwards, his right hand on a document on a table, his left hand on his belt, wearing a díszmagyar (Hungarian ceremonial dress) with cape and sword.

Oil on canvas, [dimensions unknown]

Laib L 5411 (364) / C31 (21)

In his memoirs de László recalled: "One of the most important pictures I painted about this time was that of Desider [Dezső] Szilágyi, the great Lutheran^[1] Minister of Justice who, after a long struggle, succeeded in instituting civil marriage in Hungary...I painted him three-quarter length in Hungarian national dress, for the Ministry of Justice in Szolnok. Next to the portrait of Gregorius^[2] I consider this the best example of my work at that time. It is dignified in colour and approach, and worthy of that strong man. For this portrait I received 1000 florins."^[3] The portrait was unveiled at a ceremonial luncheon in Szolnok on 13 May 1894.^[4] The Prime Minister, Sándor Wekerle, admired it and invited de László to his country estate that summer to paint his portrait [111392].^[5] Von Schleinitz called the portrait of Szilágyi, “a  powerful, highly original portrait...This portrait was László's first commission from the State, and with this picture he entered the beginning of his Master period.”^[6] De László painted a second, more informal portrait of the sitter in 1895 [13100].

Dezső Szilágyi was born in Nagyvárad, Transylvania (now Oradea Mare, Romania) 1 April 1840. His father was a lawyer. Szilágyi too studied law in Hungary and Vienna and then practised law and worked as a journalist. He joined the Ministry of Justice in 1867. In 1870-71 he was sent to England to study the British parliamentary and judicial systems. From 1874 to 1889 he was Professor of Political Science and Criminal Law at the University of Budapest. Szilágyi was elected a member of parliament in 1871. After a period as a leading member of the Liberal opposition, he became Minister of Justice from 1889 to 1895 (from 1892 in Wekerle's Liberal government). During his tenure he reformed the judicial system and codified various aspects of civil law. He is best remembered for his reform in 1894 of the law governing civil marriages, which succeeded despite the opposition of the Court and the Roman Catholic Church. From 1895 to 1898 he was Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. In this capacity it was he who welcomed the King and Queen on behalf of Parliament at the Millennial celebrations in 1896. He was much admired for his skillful oratory; his speeches were published posthumously in four volumes.^[7] In 1897 he was elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Dezső Szilágyi never married. He died in Budapest on 30 July 1901.

PROVENANCE:
Royal Hungarian Ministry of  Justice, Szolnok

EXHIBITED:
•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society, Téli kiállítás [Winter Exhibition], 1894-95,  no. 123
•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, László Fülöp műveinek gyűjteményes kiállítása [Exhibition of Works by László Fülöp], April 1907, no. 65

•Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungarian Fine Art Society, Tavaszi kiállítás és László Fülöp, Munkácsy Mihály, Pentelei Molnár János, valamit Petz Samu és Hűvös László összegyűjtött műveinek kiállítása [Spring Exhibition and Retrospectives of Philip de László, Mihály Munkácsy, János Pentelei Molnár, Samu Petz and László Hűvös], 4 May - 30 June 1925, no. 20

LITERATURE:
•Vasárnapi Újság,  14 April 1907, p. 295
•Országos Magyar Képzőművészeti Társulat  1894-1895 Évi Téli Kiállítása, [The 1894-1895 Annual Winter Exhibition of the Hungarian National Fine Art Society], Budapest, Franklin-Társulat Nyomdája, 1894, p. 8, ill.
•Schleinitz, Otto (von), Künstler Monographien, no. 106, Ph. A. von László. Bielefeld and Leipzig, (Velhagen & Klasing), 1913, pp. 25-6
•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 149

•Hart-Davis, Duff, László Fülöp élete és festészete [Philip de László's Life and Painting], Corvina, Budapest, 2019, ill. 19

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, pp. 15, 25

•DLA031-0037, letter from István Thomán to de László, [2?] January 1894

•DLA162-0285, Pesti Hírlap, 18 April 1894, p. 5

•NSzL150-0007, letter from de László to Lippich, 4 October 1894

•NSzL150-0011, letter from de László to Lippich, 1 December 1894

•DLA140-0011, Magyar Géniusz, 1894, p. 364, ill.

•DLA140-0012, Vasárnapi Újság, Vol.41, No.47, 1894, pp. 483-484. ill.

•DLA162-0294, Pesti Hírlap, 18 January 1895, p. 5

•DLA162-0187, Pesti Hírlap, 12 October 1895, p. 8

•NSzL149-0010, letter from de László to Lajos Ernst, 21 March 1907

•DLA162-0102, Pesti Hírlap, 7 April 1907, p. 7

•DLA162-0270, Pesti Hírlap, 16 May 1925, p. 5

•DLA162-0190, Pesti Hírlap, 12 October 1934, p. 15

Pd'O 2011