Patrons, Mediators, Institutions: The Parisian career of the painter Viktor Madarász (1830–1917) in the Context of Social Connections

Viktor Madarász (1830–1917) is considered as one of the defining exponents of “Hungarian national art”. Yet, paradoxically, the anointed painter of the so-called Hungarian national romanticism had to go abroad to paint the pictures that would promote the national consciousness in an oppressed country and champion the ideals of Hungarian independence. Madarász lived in the French capital for almost a decade and a half, studying under the academic master Léon Cogniet, exhibiting in the Salon de Paris and becoming acquainted with illustrious members of the Parisian art society. The work that Madarász carried out in France prompts us to investigate the circumstances that influenced his career there. This study aims to take a look at the most productive period in Madarász’s career – his Parisian period – in the light of the latest research and with particular emphasis on the works he exhibited at the Salon de Paris. In conveying new information and discussing the social and cultural circumstances of Viktor Madarász’s sojourn in Paris, as well as the connections he built up there – with educational establishments, exhibiting institutions, patrons, mediators and other artists –, this paper is intended to provide new insight into the strategies the artist pursued in order to build his career, and thereby to present his Parisian period in a new light