Mostanáig a blogom főleg angol nyelvű volt, a jővő pedig több magyar lesz. Vegren megjelent a cikkem az Unger-családről az Arrabonában. Itt az összefogása (külön köszönöm Pozsonyi Istvánnak a forditást):

A XIX. század elején idősebb Unger Mátyás játékkártyafestő-mester (1789-1862), aki eredetileg Sopronból származott és ott tanult, Győrben telepedett le és nyitotta meg műhelyét. Az alábbi cikk e polgári iparművész- és művészcsalád pontosabb bemutatása révén, különböző forrásokból eredően újabb bizonyítékát nyújtja ennek. Ez pontosan érvényes Unger Mátyás és azonos nevű fia (1824-78) játékkártya-készítésére, valamint második legidősebb fia, Alajos (1814-48) életére és munkásságára. Korai magyar történelmi festő és rajzoló volt, aki 1833 és 1842 között a Bécsi Képzőművészeti Akadémián tanult, különösen Leopold Kupelwieser növendékeként. Egyes rajzait és több festményét a legutóbbi időben fedezték fel, miután két olajfestményét, a „Győr visszafoglalásá“-t (1840) és a családi portrét (1843) 1970-ben és 1974-ben a budapesti Magyar Nemzeti Galéria szerezte meg.

Számos, túlnyomó részben tanulmányrajzon, mindenekelőtt férfiaktokon kívül a nemrég megtalált művek közé tartozik a tágabb Szent Család (sacra conversazione), a da Vinci-tanítvány Cesare da Sesto után készült „Szűz-féldombormű“ (la Vierge au bas-relief), egy velencei látképes biedermeier óra, valamint a „Vajk (a későbbi I. István király) keresztelése“.

Az Unger-család különböző játékkártyafajtákat gyártott, így példáúl egy soproni mintás német kártyákat, francia, csitt/whist-, Tell Vilmos-, valamint tarokk-kártyákat. Ifjabb Unger Mátyás Magyarországon különösképpen az 1840-es évekből való kártyákkal vált ismertté, amelyek magyar viseleteket mutattak.

A kártyaszalagokhoz való egyes fanyomódúcokat, valamint egy soproni képes játékot ifjabb Unger Mátyás az 1870-es években a bencés gimnázium gyűjteményének adományozta, így váltak később a győri Xántus János Múzeum gyűteményének részévé. Az új ismeretek a közép-európai játékkártyafestő-családokról szóló történetírás további mozaikkövei. Ezenkívül a jelen cikk Unger Alajosról szóló fejtegetései még jobban megvilágítják a XIX. század első felének győri, akárcsak a század magyar nemzeti művészetének kezdeteit.

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

THE Master of Ravenswood had mounted the ambling hackney which he before
rode, on finding the accident which had happened to his led horse, and,
for the animal’s ease, was proceeding at a slow pace from the Tod’s Den
towards his old tower of Wolf’s Crag, when he heard the galloping of a
horse behind him, and, looking back, perceived that he was pursued by
young Bucklaw, who had been delayed a few minutes in the pursuit by
the irresistable temptation of giving the hostler at the Tod’s Den some
recipe for treating the lame horse. This brief delay he had made up by
hard galloping, and now overtook the Master where the road traversed
a waste moor. “Halt, sir,” cried Bucklaw; “I am no political agent–no
Captain Craigengelt, whose life is too important to be hazarded in
defence of his honour. I am Frank Hayston of Bucklaw, and no man injures
me by word, deed, sign, or look, but he must render me an account of
it.”

Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor

What this has to do with the Unger family history and why I’ll explain at a later point. One finding leading to the next…

This blog deals with the history of a Hungarian playing-card making and artist family:

In the early 19^th century master playing-card maker Mátyás Unger the Elder (1789-1862), originally from Sopron and trained there, established a workshop in Győr. In this blog new evidence from various sources on the history of this craftsman and artist middling sort family is presented in more detail. This especially with view to the playing-card production of Mátyás and his like-named son, Mátyás the Younger (1824-78), as well as the life and works of his second eldest son Alajos (1814-48). He was an early Hungarian historical painter and draughtsman trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna between 1833-1842, particularly under Leopold Kupelwieser. Various works of his have now been rediscovered, after his two oil paintings “Recapture of Győr” (1840) and his family portrait (1843) had been acquired by the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest in 1970 and 1974.

Apart from a serious of mainly study drawings, many of which are male nudes, the recently found works are his extended Holy Family (sacra conversazione) “La vierge au bas-relief” after Leonardo da Vinci’s student Cesare da Sesto, a biedermeier picture clock with a view of Venice and his “Baptism of Vajk”; the later King Stephen I.

The Unger family produced different kinds of playing cards such as German cards with Oedenburg pattern, French, csitt/whist, William Tell and tarock cards. The family became well-known within Hungary particularly for their cards depicting national costumes in the 1840s. Various wooden printing blocks, for card wraps and one Tell game, were donated to the collection of the Benedictine grammar school in the 1870s by Mátyás Unger the Younger and later became part of the Xántus János Museum’s collection. The new findings are further elements in the writing of the history of Central European playing-card making families. In addition to this, with the new findings on Alajos Unger, the art history of Győr of the first part of the 19^th century as well as the beginnings of Hungarian national art in that century are further illuminated through our work.

In future, we will share more material on the family here, on their playing cards, the artwork by Alajos Unger, linguistic questions including 19^th century lexicography in Hungary with relation to the family, the family’s collection of small religious devotional objects (19^th/20^th century), artwork by other family members including a serious of photos (large-format negatives) taken during WWII as well as a large collection of old letters and family photographs (19^th/20^th century). A homepage proper is in preparation.

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Before I went there, however, I had a highly informative appointment and long conversation with archivist Ferdinand Gutschi at the archives of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. This confirmed some of the beliefs I have come to hold about Alajos, his life and work I have been investigating particularly since last summer.

This blog certainly is not a stream of consciousness, but rather reflects the fact that life happens and as such it can only be planned to a certain degree. Suddenly new doors open and the path originally envisaged must be abandoned. This certainly holds true here too. At the end of last year and beginning of this, my life was unexpectedly gaining new momentum and my priorities shifted. This family history project still greatly matters to me, but there is much else going on simultaneously.

At the moment, my research is focussed on confirming that the house in Győr I think is my family’s former place really is where they lived and manufactured their cards for many years. More research-related travel to the archives is to follow next month.

Accoding to family lore, he deserted the army and emigrated to Nis, Serbia where he married a jeweller’s widow. Why exactly he deserted is unknown to us and it is surprising because his two older brothers Alajos and József (Pepi) both served in the army and his uncle, painter and draughtsman Alajos Unger, had served in the National Guard for a while

What backs this story are both an entrance in the town council minutes in his hometown from 1880, where it says that he was persecuted for an offence related to his military service in Budapest. Additionally there is a photograph by the Serbian photographer Milos Kostic in the possession of my family, which depicts what is probably a somewhat older Géza with a woman, most likely his wife. She might have been pregnant. Milos Kostic worked in Belgrade, but whether or not he also worked in Nis I have been unable to find out so far.

Other than the photograph and the information passed down orally to us, we know nothing about how he fared, how long he lived, whether he did have offspring. The search is ongoing.

Photos to follow in an update

A few months ago I had finally managed to make contact with the relatives whose ancestor emigrated to the US during WWII. And with Bandi’s help I have now been able to reconnect with my distant cousin Csilla. She wrote me a message yesterday and said that she and two other cousins would like to meet up with me. I’m incredibly thrilled, I’d tried to trace them down for the longest time. When Marika, a Hungarian relative who’d relocated to Austria, died in 1997 and the entire older generation (with whom my father communicated in French) had also passed away by around that time, our branch lost touch because none of us knew Hungarian well enough to be able to communicate. She said she had interesting information and documents for me, which is wonderful, although just being able to reconnect is what matters most to me.

My university booked a room at a hotel in Pest near the Vigadó for me, in whose precursor building Alajos displayed his King Salamon and Lászlo painting. Nice coincidence!

Additionally I shall meet up with Dr. Erzsébet Györgyi and playing-card expert Antal Jánoska, who have been incredibly kind to me. This is followed by a short visit to the record office in Győr and an equally much anticipated get-together with the relatives there. All events to look forward to greatly!

Patronymics (Hey 2000: 59f) “were derived from a father’s personal name”. Examples for this category would be Williams or Johnson, the son of William or John.

Nicknames, oftentimes referring to physical characteristics of a family’s ancestor, are a fairly self-explanatory category and include names such as Goldeneye or Kurz.

Occupational surnames again are a straightforward group and include names such as Smith or Bauer.

Toponymic names refer to people from a particular place or location such as Kent or Bayer.

Although by far not all names fit neatly fit into these categories, Unger in our case is a toponymic name.

According to J K Brechenmacher (1960-63), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen, tome 2, Limburg/Lahn: C. A. Starke, s.v. Unger is derived from Ungar, and as such it denotes someone who was originally an ethnic Hungarian. Bahlow (1980), Deutsches Namenslexikon, 4th edition, Frankfurt-on-Main: Suhrkamp, s.v. Unger also states this and furthermore explains that it also referred to people who did business with Hungarians.

Therefore my family’s ancestors were Hungarians originally, hence the name.