Faculty of Philosophy, Department for History of Art

Specifične društveno-političke okolnosti u ugarskom delu Austrougarske monarhije u osvit 20. veka uticale su na uobličavanje likovne kulture koja je funkcionisala u sakralnoj, ali i javno-obrazovnoj sferi. Slika Patrona Hungariae (Zaštitnica Mađarske), mađarskog slikara Janoša Bema, nastala je 1902. godine kao oltarska slika za kapelu novoizgrađenog objekta Gimnazije u Subotici, a danas je deo fundusa Gradskog muzeja, takođe, u Subotici. Na ovom platnu velikih dimenzija predstavljena je Bogorodica sa malim Hristom u naručju, ovenčana regalijama Kraljevine Ugarske, među kojima se izdvaja mađarska Cveta kruna, koja predstavlja nukleus doktrine o mađarskoj državnosti. Važnu ulogu u uobličavanju mađarskog nacionalnog identiteta u 19. veku imao je mit po kojem je prvi ugarski kralj Sveti Stefan predao oznake kraljevskog dostojanstva Bogorodici, učinivši je svojom naslednicom, ali i vekovnom zaštitnicom mađarskog trona. Ovaj ritualni čin je u potonjoj istoriji poiman kao ključni trenutak u hrišćanskoj prošlosti mađarske nacije, na osnovu čega su Zemlje krune sv. Stefana sagledavane kao Regnum Marianum (Marijino kraljevstvo), a mađarski narod kao bogoizabran. U godinama kada nastaje slika Patrona Hungariae (1902) koncept Regnum Marianum poslužio je za isticanje posebnosti mađarske nacije, ali i za legitimizaciju sve intenzivnije mađarizacije, sprovedene putem školstva u multietničkoj sredini, kakva je bila Subotica početkom 20. stoleća. Analiza dela Patrona Hungariae omogućiće razumevanje istorijskih prilika i asimilacionih tendencija u južnoj Ugarskoj, kao i rasvetljavanje uloge slikovnih agensa u ostvarivanju nacionalnih ciljeva u sakralno-obrazovnoj sferi.

ENG:
The painting Patrona Hungariae (The Protectress of Hungary), created by the Hungari- an painter János Böhm, was painted in the year 1902 as an altar painting for the chapel of the newly built Grammar School in Subotica (Szabadka), whereas today it is a part of the collec- tion of the City Museum in Subotica. Painted on a very large canvas, it depicts the Mother of God holding little Christ in her hands, adorned by the regalia of the Kingdom of Hunga- ry, among which the Hungarian Sacred Crown stands out, representing the nucleus of the Hungarian statehood doctrine. The visualisation of the concept of The Protectress of Hun- gary was based on the established iconographic patterns that were dominant in the Catholic world, incorporation the national symbols of the highest order – the Crown of St Stephen, a sceptre and a globus cruciger (cross-bearing orb). In a markedly pluralist society, which is what Hungarian society was as the 19th century became the 20th, there occurred an in- tensification of assimilation tendencies, advocated by the Hungarian cultural and political elite, a trend which did not bypass Subotica, at the time the third most populous city in the Hungarian part of the Monarchy; half the inhabitants of Subotica were not of Hungarian na- tionality. The national elite saw the educational system as one of the most efficient tools for the creation of loyal Hungarians; to this end, it also advocated the introduction of the Ro- man Catholic dogma in the public sphere, which was supposed to contribute to the exclu- sive status of the Hungarian nation. It was from this perspective that the issue of decorating the altar space of the ceremonial hall of the Subotica Grammar School was viewed, and the nucleus of this area was Böhm’s Patrona Hungariae. The importance of the visual, as well as the ideological shaping of the representative area of the ceremonial hall is testified to by the fact that the altar painting was commissioned no fewer than three times, on account of the unfulfilled aesthetic criteria set by the members of the Grammar School Building Board and the local parish priest. The decorative altar plastic, shaped in a neo-Baroque manner, evoked fertility and abundance, and together with the sculptures of Szent Imre and Szent Alajos, it visualised the main theme of the altarpiece, upon which the idea of the God-given nature of the Hungarian nation and its mythological-sacral roots was based. The aspiration to objecti- fy an abstract notion which could not be experienced led to the creation of a painterly agent the aim of which was to play the role of a sublimated system of ideas and beliefs pertaining to the exclusivity of the Hungarian nation, of which even the Mother of God was a part in a certain way, consequently conferring legitimacy onto their political use of power.

Welcome to ARTUM, peer-reviewed online-journal for the history of art!

http://www.f.bg.ac.rs/files/iu_ARTUM1_2015-07.pdf

Publisher: Department for Art History, Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade

Editor-in-chief: Vladana Putnik,PhD

Editorial Board:
Ana Knežević, Tamara Biljman; Milan Popadić, PhD; Jasmina Ćirić, PhD; Vuk Dautović, M.A.

Contact: [email protected]