Owner threatens to remove ‘Golgotha’ from Debrecen museum by August 31

Budapest (MTI) – Imre Pakh, the New York-based art collector of Hungarian origin who owns Mihaly Munkacsy’s “Golgotha” — currently on loan to Hungary — told MTI that he has informed Debrecen’s Deri Museum that he will remove the landmark painting from the museum on August 31.

Pakh said the reason behind his decision was that the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) had shown no willingness to compromise in order to keep the painting in Hungary, but was instead trying to hold on to the work “by force”, going as far as initiating a listing procedure. Pakh said such a move was “in breach of both Hungarian and international laws” and that he would take legal action over the matter. He said he had informed the head of the Forster Gyula National Heritage and Asset Management Centre, Debrecen mayor Laszlo Papp and government commissioner Laszlo L. Simon of his decision. The painting will be stored in a warehouse in Hungary, Pakh said. The art collector said that on Thursday he will inform the central bank that he considers the negotiations to be over, but would be willing to cooperate if the bank “changed its stance on the matter”.

Janos Angi, director of the Deri Museum, told MTI that he had recently received a phone call from Pakh, in which the art collector informed him that he would be removing the painting from the museum at the end of the month. “I asked Imre Pakh to send a letter expressing his intention [to remove the painting] along with a written consent from the Forster Centre,” Angi said, adding that the consent was crucial in order to remove the painting. He said Pakh had made no formal contact with the museum.

In June, the cabinet office initiated a procedure to prevent “Golgotha” (1884), one of three paintings in the Munkacsy trilogy, from being permanently removed from the country. The office said the painting would be listed temporarily until rules on a permanent listing are applied. The state has owned “Ecce Homo!” (1896), part of the series, for decades and it recently acquired “Christ Before Pilate” (1881), another of the three, from Canada’s Art Gallery of Hamilton for 5.7 million dollars, with funding from the NBH’s programme to buy national art treasures.

Ferenc Gerhardt, deputy governor of the central bank, said the bank would pay 6 million dollars to acquire the painting, though Pakh is asking for 9 million dollars. Pakh said that Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Fine Art Asset Management, had appraised the painting and they had all estimated its value around 10 million dollars.

Photo: vitezirend.com

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters