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ulei pe pânză, 75 x 60 cm, signed on the left side, under the portrait, with ochre, "PROPERTY OF IOAN COSTANDE PA"; titled in the center below, with ochre, "NICOLAU URSU HORIA, (1784)"
Research information
The artwork was exhibited at the National Brukenthal Museum from November 29, 2023 to April 1, 2024.
The artwork was part of the exhibition "The History of Romania in 100 Portraits", Art Safari, Bucharest, March 8 - July 28, 2024.
Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, and Transylvanian revolutionary, Ioan Costande stood out for his prodigious artistic and activist activities. With studies conducted in Vienna and Budapest, Ioan Costande will assert himself as one of the main lithographers of his time. From the gallery of portraits made by the artist, the ones of Avram Iancu, Horea, and Crisan or George Baritiu stand out. Through the technique adopted in these portraits, the author adheres to the principles of academic painting. As a revolutionary, Ioan Costande will find himself in the position of commander of the civilian guards from Ocna Sibiu. He took part in the preparation and unfolding of the 1848 revolution in Wallachia alongside personalities such as Ion Negulici, C.D. Rosenthal, Misu Popp, and Barbu Iscovescu. Their contribution was made by organizing popular demonstrations, but also by creating portrait-effigies dedicated to the leaders. The work of art only came to public attention after it was restored and subsequently exhibited at the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu. Over time, a very small number of oil works made by Ioan Costande have been preserved, making this work a very rare testament to the artist's pictorial mastery. The work attests to his qualities as an academic painter and reveals the portrait of Vasile Ursu Nicola. Represented with a serious, concentrated, and affected demeanor, the protagonist presents himself to the audience as a defender of the working class. The work has a sober tone, both through strokes and chromatic choices: predominantly shades of brown. The bust is rendered, which is interrupted at the bottom, forming a circular arc under which the author inscribed his name. One of Romania's important historical figures, Vasile Ursu Nicula (known today mostly by the pseudonym "Horea"), led the 1784 peasant revolt in Transylvania. One of the few literate members of the community, he took on the "advocate of the peasants" status and played an important role in the uprising. The villagers in the Land of the Moti relied on his skill to present their grievances to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. The feudal constraints imposed (increase in the number of workdays, mandatory contributions) and lack of response from those in power pushed the serf peasants questioning the "tolerated" status to revolt. Gathering Romanian, Hungarian or Saxon serfs, craftsmen, priests, or miners, the rebellion gained a national character and lasted almost two months, from November 2, 1784 to the end of December of the same year. Accused of rebellion, Horea would be imprisoned, along with Cloşca and Crişan, in Alba Iulia. It is said that during the imprisonment of these three revolutionaries in Alba Iulia, several painters visited them to make their portraits, from which we mention Franz Neuhauser and Anton Steinwald. The end of Horea was a brutal one, being executed alongside Cloşca by breaking on the wheel, a method of execution later abolished from the Austrian penal code - this barbaric method was meant to frighten the serf peasantry who had previously revolted. Echoes of this rebellion will reach several European countries, which will present in their publications the cruel succession of events.
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