02 Works The Art of War, Bertalan Székely's Women of Eger, with footnotes

Bertalan Székely

Women of Eger, c. 1867

Oil, canvas

227 × 176.5 cm

Hungarian National Museum

On 29 September, 1552, an army of 35–40,000 men from the Rumelian army (and an Anatolian contingent) and the troops of Ahmed Pasha from Buda gathered at Szolnok and went on to attack the castle of Eger. The defenders of the castle numbered all together 2000, including serfs with no understanding of warfare, and many women and children, who threw stones and poured hot water, molten bitumen and lead down the siege ladders. Nevertheless, the defenders of the castle, under the leadership of István Dobó, repelled the attacks, and on 18 October, the Turks retreated from the castle.

In his composition, Bertalan Székely wanted to express the Hungarians’ disadvantage in the struggle, as he describes it in his journal. By depicting the central female figure with the attackers in front of her and the castle in flames behind her, he evokes a feeling of true heroism, while creating an eternal symbol of patriotic sacrifice.

Székely's painting Az Egri Nők (Women of Eger) depicts the defense of the fortress, especially by the womenfolk, and hangs in the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. More on this painting

Bertalan Székely

Women of Eger (Sketch), c. 1860

Paper, pencil, sepia, heightened with white

223 × 198 mm

Hungarian National Museum

Bertalan Székely (8 May 1835  – 21 August 1910) was a Hungarian history and portrait painter who worked in the Romantic and Academic styles.

Born into a family that was originally part of the Transylvanian nobility, his father was a court clerk. Although his family wanted him to become an engineer, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna from 1851 to 1855, under Johann Nepomuk Geiger and Carl Rahl. He then returned to his hometown where, for the next three years, he worked as an art teacher. After a year of employment with Count Aichelburg in Marschendorf, he married and moved to Munich, where he studied with Karl von Piloty. It was there that he first developed his interest in history painting. In 1862, he settled in Pest.

The following year, he won a contest with his painting "The Escape of Emperor Charles VII" and used the prize money to finance a trip to the Netherlands and Paris, returning in 1864. He became one of the first teachers hired at the new "Hungarian Royal Drawing School" (now the Hungarian University of Fine Arts) in 1871 and served as its Director from 1902 to 1905, when he took over the master classes.

From the 1860s through the 1880s, he mostly painted portraits and female figures, then turned to landscapes. He also created decorative murals in the Matthias Church, Budapest Opera House and the City Hall in Kecskemét. Later, he became interested in the movement studies made by Edweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey and conducted some of his own. More on Bertalan Székely

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