The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-31
NUNKAGSY G|)NE MAD
His Last Great Painting Was
His Undoing.
"ECCE HOMO FINISHED
Then Fell the Great Master,
a Mounting Maniac.
"ECCE HOMO FINISHED

artists, has been pronounced hopelessly
insane and the French courts have APP
pointed an administration of his estate.
1t is one of the saddest tragedies of the
age. The great painter is confined in
bhe dncurable ward of a hospital 70 rthe
Insane at budapest In Hungary, Of which
country be is q native
Physicians and alienists agree that mis-
Insanity is due to mis- intense application
upon che latest and greatest Of his paint
Ings, ''Ecce Homo which is reproduced
On this page. He took no exercise and
admitted no visitors to his studio during
that period.
NI1rnkacsy tainted after he had painted
his name at the corner of the canvas
Almost Immediately afterward he was
stricken with spinal paralysis Hrs rea-
son departed Varying reports have come
from Budapest as TO his health. At one
time he seemed on the point Of recovery.
The final and official report is oTat his
Fecovery IS impossible.
Paris. Aug 18.-Mihaly Munkacsy point
ed into thebo Id outlines tho colossal
figures and the superb color1ng Of his
famed "Eoce Homo" his own madness
and death "Ecce Homo was the dy-
ing fiame-burst of his genius, the fms, -"
written after mis- earthly career. He Will
never paint again, for last week he was
adjudged hopelessly insane. and French
conrnnissio ners appointed an administra-
Dor for his estate.
It WAS unnecessary to await the coming
formahty Of death for already IS the gen
rus, the rare mind that was Munkacsy.
dead. The great frame of the ungarian
artist Is wasted, the leonine head bent
The deep-set eyes that were wont 10 glow
with the passion OF his painting are dim.
His physicians believe that death is near
When MihaH MlVnkacsy scrawled his
name at the lower hand corner Of gIis
great painting he wrote the eptlra of his
reason. AT that instant his wizard hand
forever lost its cunning. His "Ecce
Homo was mis- suicide.
Eight months Of almost unrem5tting Ia
Dor, when sleep was taken between the
hours of l and O'Clock in the morning
IL at all; when food was passed in at
tfhe studio door by a servant who was not
Permitted to enter; when no one was al
bowed to pass the threshold Of the studio
except good-na tured and inSistent Nine
AIUnkacsy, and when The master took no
exercise except the labor of the steady
welding OF his brush. Even to the Hun
garian giant painter there was a ''thus
far" The results OF this unparalleled APP
plJcation were "Ecce Homo" and madness
AlsInkacsy left tis mansion. No 3 Rue
FIEers Paris, but once during the eight
Tnontirs in wmhich he was painting "Ecce
Homo" That was when he stromed about
the streets in search for A model for the
Christ The galmt man with the cavern
Gus eyes sfngaled out man with delicate
Features. a spiritual expression and a curl
Lng beard He gTasped his arm so tightly
6hat ne left his great finger marks upon
the slighter mans arm for many a day.
BE my Christ" begged the Hungarian.
The one l have imagined Is finished.
but he does not suit. Come. ! pray You"
The big seedy looking individual fright
ened the smaller man. He walked to
the mansion of the Rue Villers with the
wild stranger, hut 9e was careful TO keep
we'd Out o reach 1t needed the ma gic
name OF Munkacsy on the door plate TO
re2sSure him
With the stranger as a model the mas
ter painted day after day. but til the
Christ did not please him. Il like bet1e.
the one imagined Co. - saiG am.
blotting Ou1 the work of a week with 4
furious stroke and the stranger carried
away pocket fun of francs and the con-
Tiction that he had been locked in the
studio with a lunatic.
Steadily Munkacsy painted his "Ecce
Homo" Hunger he knew not in those
eight months. He drove away theeerv-
ants who came to announce that meal Is
I
food to be PASSED into the room u-on the
indignant demand Of Madame his wife.
Often sleep did not visit him for seventy
Two hours. and when WEAKNESS compelled
him to drop his brush ne lay in a tense.
half conscious state. his face tain and
white as that If corpse
No one intruded upon the solitude Of his
Futdio except Madame and that under ST
lent Sunerence
The artists dream Of t9lo Cglrist's sadly
serene face began to take form in thar
ricl half-barharc studio on The Rue
Nillers. The figure grew into the ou,e-
dlgnites NJ the proportions the ar-.st
lad planned He placed uheminic crown
Of thorns upon his head and the derisive
reed sceDtre in his hand Wine painting
me Christ me artists face had tai ken on
Fome1nlnS Of tho loftiness OF deity. said
loving. EaTu,ous Nine. Munkacsv.
There was the peace that paSseth IN
uerStandlng in the studio loved 70
steal IN there as I did to slip tnco a con-
vent for the beredictioin service. although
he never allowed me to speak" she said
but on how changed when ne was paint,
ing the cold face and non-comn.tal a-t;-
tude Of Plate. He froze me rhen I'M.
he was fury when he painted the Jews.
would not 20 into the sr.Sio after t3l3t
The master IS always in the mood. Of The
figure he paints"
A victim Of his cease,ess energy. Nun
kacsy was Wei the victim Of his powerful
imagination The fury Of an intense dra-
mate instinct wrought upon him as an
oVemastering s,imu.any and soadei him
70 a state close to madness. He was one
with the taUaung PharsSees and the CRUEL
Roman SolGery. as he painted those lar
ter figures. Their hatred Tor the calm.
divine figure on the pordco was his as
his quick, angry strokes followed each
other
And every day had there been anyone
there to see. he would have noted that
the master grew more gaunt, ais eyes
more like flames bursting from caverns.
MS face winter. his movements more ner-
vous and uncertain.
At last it was finished. The colossal
Christ looked sadly down upon the rabble
from the portco Of the Roman building
Ponuus PLATE, cold. impasS.ve. stood at
the right, Roman soldier the grim fig
IRE al his lef. Below the jews st-ove WIN
the soldiers 70 get a closer view and 3
Better chance 10 mock t-e p-etende-