Maulbertsch and Winterhalder, MNG, 20. 11. 2009. – 28. 02. 2010. 

The exhibition presenting the restored painting by Maulbertsch from the cathedral in Szombathely is hosted by the Hungarian National Gallery. The church was bombed in March 1945 destroying not only the frescoes of the vaulting, but also tearing into hundreds of pieces the monumental Visitation-composition of the high altar. This painting was finished by Winterhalder after the death of the master. Having assembled the fragments of the painting professionals realized that the main characters had been preserved relatively intact and only the less important motifs had been seriously damaged. The exhibition presents all the eight surviving altarpieces, design of fresco and oil modello, based on which the project phase that may be regarded as reconstruction can be executed in a way leaving the restored composition the work of the old masters. The 96 images on display here do not present the frescoes themselves, but the studies and sketches preceding them. The artful way Maulbertsch treated light and colour was a pioneering one in universal art history. Evolving simultaneously with the classicizing Austrian/German (?) architecture, his fresco painting practice was changing so as to approach the academic style continued by his student. The influence of his art is preserved by ecclesiastical buildings not only in Lower Austria, but also in Moravia and in the Transdanubian region. Maulbertsch is also a Hungarian painter, and even though we tend to say that Hungarian painting has a past of 200 years only, we are to regard his art as an integral part of Hungarian art history in a culturally motivated country. 

György Szegő