Book - [Lanzmar, Ferenc:] Mausoleum potentissimorum ac gloriosissimorum regni apostolici regum... Nürnberg, 1664

The panels are unadorned. On the six-ribbed spine the fields between the ribs are gilded with scrolls and flower motifs. In the second field from above is a faded reddish leather label with the inscription MAUSOLEU / REGUM / ET DUCUM / HUNGARIAE. The tool is sewn with white and blue cotton thread. The cut is spurt red. The engravings of Hungarian military leaders and kings were made by Lorinc Ferenczffy (1595—1640) — who used to be secretary of the chancellery during the rule of King Mathias II — in the early l6l0's in the workshop of the Sadeler brothers in Prague. He had planned to publish a book with portraits of the Hungarian kings. This plan was later extended to a book of the pictorial history of Hungary. But Ferenczffy could not realize his project because of lack of money and a patron. The copperplates of the 57 portraits he had made were handed over from the Jesuits of Pozsony to Ferenc Nadasdy (1623—1671), who supplemented it with the portraits of Ferdinand III and IV and had a new text written with the Jesuit Nicolaus Avancini. He published the book in 1644 in Nuremberg. He had made a new title page to come before the series of engravings of late renaissance style: above the cartouche framing the short title two putti hold a canopy above the Hungarian crown on the two sides of the cartouche Hercules and Mars are standing at the foot sit Pallas Athene and Prudentia, indicating that the supports of the Hungarian crown are strength accompanied by prudence, together with wisely applied valour. The purpose of the publication was drafted by Nadasdy himself in his dedication to the orders: the memory of the heroes should be preserved, even in a country devastated by barbarians, to hold up their example to posterity. In forming the text of the dedication and the title page the interpretation and connection of the series portraits of kings made half a century earlier serves as an expression of the same idea: it is an exhortation to carry on the struggle against the Turks. The relevance of the Mausoleum was invalidated by the shameful peace of Vasvar (10th August, 1664), at the time of the appearance of the book. The engravings, however, as sources for the pictorial type representing the obligations of nobility, have influenced centuries of Hungarian art.