Miklós Barabás (10 February 1810, in Márkosfalva, Háromszék County,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

– 12 February 1898, in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary) was a Hungarian painter. He is mostly known for his portrait paintings, including a famous portrait of a young

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

, done in 1847 and an 1853 portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Biography

Miklós Barabás was educated at the Protestant school of Nagyenyed ''(today Aiud, Romania)''. He painted from an early age, and in 1829 he was a pupil of Johann Ender in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

for a while. Back in Kolozsvár ''(today Cluj-Napoca, Romania)'' in 1830 he learned

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

from Gábor Barra (1799-1837). In 1831, he moved to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. In 1834-1835 he traveled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he learned watercolor painting from the Scottsman William Leighton Leitch who was six years his senior; they became friends and toured and painted in the

Lago Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the List of lakes of Italy, second largest lake in Italy and the List of lakes of Switzerland, largest in southern Sw ...

region in 1834, and Leitch was a great influence on Barabás's future work. He finally settled in Pest in 1855. He won the great support of the literary and political leaders of the Reform Age, and was undeniably a pioneer of Hungarian national art. He was a founder and active member of art life in Hungary, and the beginnings of Hungarian genre painting are also linked with his name. His "Romanian Family Going To The Fair" (1844) was considered the most beautiful folk genre painting of its time. It met with great success at the 1844 exhibition of the Vienna Art Association, and later in Pest. He spent most of his life in Pest. During absolutism, he had to face financial problems, forcing him to take photos and to paint altars for some time. As a result of his struggle, the Art Society was established in 1859, of which he was the President from 1862 until his death. Starting in his 20s he painted a great number of Hungary, Austria and Romania's elite in formal portraits. The subjects included men and women from politics, music and literature, religious leaders, military men and high society, but he also painted scenes of rural life and peasant family portraits. His realistic style was in vogue in mid-19th-century Europe, in the decades just before photography was invented and the artistic revolution of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. As late as 1884 he painted a well-known portrait of the great Hungarian poet János Arany. Revolutionary

Lajos Kossuth Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...

and poet/revolutionary

Sándor Petőfi Sándor Petőfi ( []; né Petrovics; ; ; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet and Classical Liberalism, liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's national poet, and was one of the key figures of the Hungari ...

are also among his famous subjects. He became a member of the Parliament of Hungary in 1867, representing Pest. He died in

Sources

* * * Edith Hoffmann: ''Barabás Miklós''. Pantheon, Budapest 1923
Online

External links

@ Fine Arts in Hungary {{DEFAULTSORT:Barabas, Miklos Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 1810 births 1898 deaths Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery Painters from Austria-Hungary Painters from the Austrian Empire 19th-century Hungarian painters