Daguerreotypes in the collection of KEMKI ADK

The series of daguerreotypes of the works of the sculptor István Ferenczy, made by Adolf Gola and preserved in the collection of the SZM - KEMKI ADK,recorded the birth of the first effort for the erection of the first Hungarian public monument for a Central-Europen national leader. So the recordings document an important phase of the formation of Hungarian national identity in the 19th century Reform era.

In addition to its cultural-historical significance, the daguerreotype series has also of outstanding technical-historical interest, as very few verifiable Hungarian-made daguerreotypes have survived. This series is special even among them, as these were the first Hungarian photographs of art objects and such daguerreotypes that do not depict portraits, but the creator deliberately exploits the documentative function of the photography. In addition, the exact date and location of the daguerreotypes of the series are also known, as well as as the sponsor and the creator. Their value is also enhanced by the fact that the pictures were taken outdoors, in the yard of the artist's house in Buda, and one of them shows a full-length portrait of the sculptor.

István Ferenczy (1792–1856) was the most important Hungarian sculptor in the first half of the 19th century. In 1840, he was commissioned to design a monument to King Matthias. He made several plans and details for this work, which had many supporters, but in the end – primarily due to financial reasons – the monument failed to materialize. After the battles of the domestic intellectual life, the plans were finally rejected, and the artist went bankrupt. In 1846, he was forced to sell his studio in the Buda Castle district, so he destroyed the plaster casts kept there. Ferenczy retreated to his hometown, Rimaszombat (today, Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia) where he lived out the rest of his days almost forgotten.

In 1846, Countess Blanka Teleki, Ferenczy’s talented and wealthy student, approached a photographer, to capture the plaster sketches that were doomed to be destroyed. We know about the circumstances of the preparation of the daguerreotype series from István Ferenczy's letter to his brother, József Ferenczy on December 24, 1846 (SZM – KEMKI ADK, Inv. Nr.: 653/1920).

As we learn from the letter, the large-scale model of the monument was completed with the purpose of the documentation of the daguerreotype series. The equestrian statue of Matthias on the complicated pedestal was a newly created sculpture as during its making, the artist reflected on the previous criticisms. One shot was also taken of the previous, larger version. The bust of Matthias I. and the Allegory of Time would have been placed in the "sanctuary" of the monument, just like the reliefs paying homage to the two great predecessors (Reconciliation of Matthias I. and Mihály Szilágyi; at the grave of Matthias’ father, János Hunyadi). Frieze-like reliefs on the sides of the pedestal were recorded in three separate shots (Apotheosis of King Matthias; Matthias as Defender of the Laws; Matthias and Beatrix among Scientists and Artists). The allegories next to the entrance (Science and Power) were already cast in bronze at that time, and the daguerreotypes depicting them were also completed.

On one of the images, the artist himself appears in the courtyard of his house in Buda at Ország út 14, which today houses the parish of the Matthias Church of the Buda Castle.