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Mihály Munkácsy

Born: Munkács (now Mukachevo, Ukraine), 20 February 1844
Died: Endenich, Germany, 1 May 1900
Nationality: Hungarian
Background: 

orphan, early work for a carpenter

Studies: 

with itinerant painter, Elek Szamossy (Gyula); Vienna Academy (Akademie der Bildenden Künste); with Sándor Wagner Munich Academy (Akademie der Bildenden Künste); with Adam Eugen (Munich)

Career: 

1870 –Death Row or The Last Day of the Condemned Man wins gold medal at Paris Salon

1871 – settles in Paris

1878 – signs ten-year contract with art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer. Munkacsy received salary in exchange for paintings

1890s – complete stairwell ceiling of Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna); commissioned to paint Taking the Land in Budapest Parliament

Travels

Vienna (1864); Munich (1866-68); Düsseldorf (1868-91); Paris (1871)

Commissions from: 

Budapest Parliament

Important Artworks: 

The Confict (The Condemned Cell) I, 1869-72 (National Gallery, Budapest)

Self-Portrait II, 1881 (Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest