Portrait of Franz Schubert Gábor Melegh

Gábor Melegh was a talented Hungarian Biedermeier painter who earned fame with slightly sentimental, subtly painted portraits. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1817―1823, and graduated with honours. He made good friends with some fellow artists including painters Moritz von Schwind and Leopold Kupelwieser, among whose friends was Franz Schubert. Correspondence and recollections confirm the relationship. Kupelwieser painted a portrait of the composer, which helped identify the long unknown model of Gábor Melegh’s painting. Melegh’s portrait depicts Schubert in a cosy setting, on a porch with his dog named Drago, also known from Kupelwieser’s picture. The meticulous rendering of the clothing and environment of the sitter was a typical feature of Viennese Biedermeier art, the romanticism of the middle-class. It also characterises other portraits of Gábor Melegh. The light and bright colours, slightly linear painting, the complete harmony of sitter and setting endow the painting ― the artist’s most outstanding work ― with a serene and convivial atmosphere. | Zsuzsanna Bakó