Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-03-24

him to abandon all hope of ever working
AT his easel again. AT that time he was at
GOdesburg. For months he sat brooding
and melancholy, until. in an excess of mad
ness. he suddenly attacked and nearly
I strangled his attendant and his physician.
He was Immediately removed to an insane
asylum. from which. on its becoming OBJ
vious that his mental condition was hope
less, he was removed to the retreat at En-
denich. near Bonn, where he is about to
pass away. in the prime of years.
"~Munkacsy'' a Nom de Plume.
Munkacsy is a name the painter adopted
from his birthplace. Munkaos. in Hungary.
His proper name is Michael L.ieb. He was
born October 10. 1916, the youngest of five
children. of a poor peasant family. He
has no memory of his parents. for in l4S
his father Joined the insurgents. and the
following year, when Russian intervention
crushed the last hope of the Magyar pat
riots. both father and mother were killed
by Cossack bayOnets. The children were
scattered among remaining relatives. Young
Michael Went to his unc,-. stephen Rock.
who could provide for him only a meager
peasants education.
In 1854. when only 5 years old. the lad
u 10 DtSlu ~ y y lH1SeiI 81 Ne
was apprenticed to 4 carpenter. in Bekes-
Esaba. He worked at the bench faithfully
for six years. learning by bitter experience
lessons which afteTward gave motives for
many of his best pictures-mOst of them
sad and somber even in their humor, but
full of sympathy with the poor and the
suffering. His earliest experience with col
or was in drawing on the smooth side OF a
plank which his own hand had planed. He
4 has fnlH hnu, he was 0ffan rnusaI frnr
some youthful artist dream by a cut from
n whip in the hand of his booriSh master
for tracing a face or figure with charcoal
on the tempting whiteneSs of a board. Much
OF his work was out Of doors. even in cold
weather. and ne suffered from lack of
clothing.
Wis Early Struggles.
Munkacsy's ideal of existence IN those
days was shelter and warmth. and his am
bi,ion was to be a tailor. From his liking
for paint his master intrusted to him the
painting OF crude decorative flowers on
rude chests of drawers piece of furniture
without which no peasants home Was COM
plete. This was the pebble which decided
the course of the river. BY application and
study he improved rapidly in drawing. and
when his apprenticeship ended he went to
Gylua and became Il pupi! of the painter
4 SLfIlUSN. io SiN' mn IL iisl III
in art. He asriied only to become Il house
painter and decorator. But the youth de-
veloped with wonderful rapidity and be-
came more ambitious. The uncle was made
uneasy by this and said nothing good would
come of ii. But when he had been per-
suaded To sit for his portrait and the re-
suit WAS a true likeness the old man rec
ognized tn. finger of Heaven in this won
derful talent and Munkacsy was allowed
to follow where it pointed.
BY patient industry and eager force he
rapidly made up for the deficiencies of his
early years, and III 1862 he wandered 10
Pest afoot. making on the way strange
acquaintanccs among Gypsies, vasabonds
and stroil:ns apprentices. In Pest for a
time he earned IA scanty subsistence with
portraits and small genre pieces. One OF
these was admitted TO the Art Union eXhi-
bition and sold. The poor painter man.
aged to save a little and started for Vienna
TO study under Rehl. But soon after his
arrival Rohl died. Munkacsy did not have
money enough TO attend the academy. and
il failed to recognize any talent III him.
He struggled along for nine months in Vi
emma. then Went TO Munich. where he tried
TO enter the class OF the great Piioty. but
the class was full and he. was not admit
ted. II. visited the painting class Of the
academy there. he could not afford TO at
tend. and Kept on painting. He sold some
small things. linen suddenly fortune
turned.
MunLac.y'n First Success.
The Art Union. OF Pes;. bought Two Of
bis pictures. and i'll u competitive exhibit
ton there his painting. An humiliation
won a first prize amounting TO SW sulden.
Other prizes oilowed. ard with the capital
thus acquired Munkacsy Went TO Duss-l-
to-r drawn by the influence OF knaus.
There he soon found himself more a mas
ter than = pupil. With the hard. dry. con-
y,ntional Dusseldorf school he had no SYM
pathv, and lie soon changed things coEl-
pleteiy.
He had been IN Dusseldorf only n short
time when an American millionaire from
mission 10 paint Il large picture. This was
the Last Days OF a Condemned Man. a
canvas tfty-two by seveniy-two inches in
size. representing Il Hungarian custom
which permitted a condemnei criminal 10
take 4 last leave of his friends OH the
evening Of his execution. In 1870 his friends
prevailed upon the reluctant artist to send
This to the Paris salon. The day after
the first private view OF that exhibition VI.
Goupii. the foremost dealer in the world.
Went posthaSte from Paris TO the Rhine to
bail the rising star and TO oaer in vain
three times the price for which the picture
had been sold. Munkacsy Went 10 Paris anu
was the lion of the year. His picture re-
ceived the gold medal. MISSIONER Fortuny
and other Partisan artists welcomed him
gladly. He revisited his home and WIS
teted there and AT Pest. Unfinished work
called him back TO Dusseldorf. but he had
to settle in Paris. He was offered a pro-
fessorShjp al the Academy of Weimar, and