János Horvay (May 29, 1874 - November 19, 1944) was a Hungarian sculptor, who earned reputation with his statues about

Lajos Kossuth Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...

, leader of the Hungarian national uprising in 1848–49. However his most important work, the great

Kossuth Memorial Kossuth Memorial refers to one of three public monuments dedicated to former Hungarian Regent-President Lajos Kossuth in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building on Lajos Kossuth Square in Budapest. The memorial is an important Magyars, Hungaria ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

proved to be a failure. Horvay was born on 29 May 1873 in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

. Between 1889 and 1895 he was the pupil of the prominent

Vienne Vienne may refer to: Places *Vienne (department), a department of France named after the river Vienne *Vienne, Isère, a city in the French department of Isère * Vienne-en-Arthies, a village in the French department of Val-d'Oise * Vienne-en-Bessi ...

se sculptor, Edmund Hellmer. After 1897 he lived in Budapest. Horvay made several trips in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(1901),

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(1902) and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(1928). He received the gold medal of the National Salon in 1913. Horvay was also a popular artist of funeral works of art. His first important work was the statue of

Cegléd Cegléd (; ) is a city in Pest County, Pest county, Hungary, approximately southeast of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Name The name of the town is of disputed origin. The name may be derived from the word "szeglet" (meaning "corner") due to i ...

(1902). The statue later became the model of other Kossuth Memorials in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In the same year Horvay made a sculpture for his hometown about

Vilmos Zsolnay Vilmos Zsolnay (April 19, 1828 in Pécs March 23, 1900 in Pécs) was a Hungarian industrialist and entrepreneur. As the director of the Zsolnay porcelain manufacture he introduced new materials and inventions into the manufacture of pottery an ...

, the inventor of the famous Zsolnay glazed ceramics. Horvay won a competition in 1906 with his model for the great

in Budapest. The sculpture group depicting the members of the first parliamentary cabinet of Hungary was inaugurated in 1927 after twenty years of work. The memorial was heavily criticised because of its composition and "melancholic" appearance by the press and the public. Later it was demolished in 1950 and the pieces were re-erected separately in

Dombóvár Dombóvár (; ) is a town in Tolna County, Hungary. Dombóvár ( German :Dombowa) is a town in Tolna County , the seat of Dombóvár District . It is the third largest settlement in Tolna County , the county seat, after Szekszárd and Paks . Ar ...

. Other works of Horvay are the Kossuth statue in New York (1928), the memorial of

Ottó Herman Ottó Herman born Herrmann Károly Ottó (26 June 1835 – 27 December 1914) was a Hungarian zoologist, ethnographer, archaeologist, journalist, and politician. A polymath recognized as a pioneer of Hungarian natural history research, he made n ...

(1930), statue of

Géza Gárdonyi Géza Gárdonyi, born Géza Ziegler (3 August 1863 – 30 October 1922) was a Hungarian writer and journalist. Although he wrote a range of works, he had his greatest success as a historical novelist, particularly with '' Eclipse of the Cres ...

(1932) and

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

(1932), and the Memorial of Hungarian Doctors (1942). All the later sculptures are in Budapest.

References

1874 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Hungarian sculptors Sculptors from Austria-Hungary {{Hungary-sculptor-stub