Court invalidates listing of Munkácsy masterpiece

The Budapest Administrative and Labour Affairs court on Thursday invalidated the listing of a monumental painting by the Hungarian master Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900).

The listing prohibited the removal of the work from Hungary and gave the state pre-emption rights for its purchase.

The court said the listing of the painting was directly related to a breakdown in talks over its sale, and therefore violated the owner’s right to due process.

The decision may not be appealed, although a request for a review of the decision by the Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, may be made within 60 days.

An appeal against the listing by the owner of the painting, the Hungarian-born American collector Imre Pakh, was earlier rejected, but the Kúria ordered a retrial.

The painting was listed after Pakh refused the National Bank of Hungary‘s asking price for the masterpiece and threatened to remove it from the Déri Museum in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, where it is on loan.

The state already owns the other two paintings in Munkácsy’s “Christ Trilogy”: “Ecce Homo!” and “Christ Before Pilate”.

As we wrote on April, an independent exhibition of 19th century realist painter Mihály Munkácsy‘s work is shown at St. Petersburg’s Hermitage between April 24 and July 29, read more HERE.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI