Painting - Museum of Applied Arts on the day of the inauguration ceremony

The capstone of the new Museum of Applied Arts was laid on 25 October 1896 in the presence of Franz Joseph, emperor and king of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, as the final act of the celebrations marking the thousand years of Hungarian history.

The artist emphasizes the ornamental pattern of the green and yellow roof tiles, which is rather lee prominent in the architects’ drawings and in reality. The principal colour of the roof is green: only a narrow band beneath the yellow tiles along the ridge is patterned. The artist’s rendering of the decorative tiling was probably based on illustrations of the town hall of Kecskemét and Szeged town hall, both of which have roofs with elaborate geometric patterns.

The style and technique of the watercolour allow an attribution to Géza Mirkovszky, who also painted the Kecskemét town hall. Mirkovzsky had studied architecture in Vienna and worked in Károly Lotz’s studio in Budapest before studying at the Berlin Academy. After his return to Hungary he worked for the Vasárnapi Újság (Sunday News). He documented several buildings in Budapest.