Celebrate Life in the Work of Hungarian Painter, Mihaly Munkascy!

The other day I illustrated my post on "The Case Against Pope Francis" with a painting of Jesus before Pilate. One of my readers asked about the artist so I did a little research to identify him and look at his other work. I was unfamiliar with Mihaly Munkascy and am glad to remedy that deficiency. Judging from his body of work, he loved children.  They are prominently featured in many of his paintings.

Munkacsy was born in 1884 in Munkacs, Hungary of German parents. His birthplace became the source of his pseudonym. He was orphaned at eight and became a joiner's apprentice where he was introduced to the basics of painting. He later received formal training. In his early career, Munkacsy mostly painted scenes of peasants and the poor where children were often featured. 

        

 

Much of Munkascy's work is described as "genre painting." I never heard the term before but it's defined by Britannica this way:

Genre painting, painting of scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation, depicted in a generally realistic manner. Genre art contrasts with that of landscape, portraiture, still life, religious themes, historic events, or any kind of traditionally idealized subject matter. Intimate scenes from daily life are almost invariably the subject of genre painting. The elimination of imaginative content and of idealization focuses attention upon the shrewd observation of types, costumes, and settings.

And this is where many of his family settings fit. Tender scenes of new babies and family life.  These paintings were very popular during the Victorian era and Munkascy became somewhat of a celebrity. 

Munkascy's art, however covers broad subject matter: landscapes, portraits, historical issues and religious art among them. As we look toward Lent in a few weeks, I offer this painting of Jesus. 

To see more of Munkascy's work go here and to learn more about him, you can read a brief bio here. 

What a great God we serve who gave us so many gifted and talented people to offer us beauty and goodness through their paintings, music, literature, and other offerings. Munkascy painted some of them: Milton, Mozart, etc. May we all use our talents to glorify our great God!