Journal Analele Banatului N.S. Archaeology-History

Elena Miklósik

Probleme de atribuire ale unor lucrări din colecțiile bănățene semnate de artiști cu nume de familie Wagner / The assignment issues regarding/of some works affiliated to the collections from Banat signed by artists representing the Wagner surname

Jan. 1, 2019

Abstract

e book regarding the artists from Timişoara signed by István Berkeszi in 1909, Temesvári művészek, emphasises the activity of the two painters settled in the citadel of Timişoara in the second half of the 18th century. Yet this path breaking book has also initiated several incorrect theories concerning the first artists settled in the town. us, the author states that Johann Michael Wagner, the artist migrated here from Vienna, might have been the father of the painter from Timişoara, Anselm Wagner. By acquiring the items of art signed or only assigned to Anselm, the book’s author, who had also been the museum’s custodian at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, he also increased the museum’s collections with numerous works connected to this painter’s active period of time. In his enthusiasm expressed in the disclosure of Anselm Wagner, the first academic painter from Timişoara, Berkeszi assigned a great deal of works to him. In the historiography of the art from Banat (and not only) the paintings and pastels – although obviously different from the technical and stylistic viewpoint – are mentioned as valuable creations of this artist from Timişoara at the end of the century. However, the pastel works inserted in the collection of the former Museum of Archeology and History were created by another painter, a traveller to these lands, József Frigyes Wagner, the one who had made numerous works like this for the limited partners from the region while wandering all over Transylvania. Berkeszi’s book, a very good book of reference illustrating the artistic context of this period of time (from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century) was also cited by most art critics as all data provided by the author were assumed. e article undertakes the presentation of some information and corrections regarding the biography and creation of the three Wagner artists (Johann Michael Wagner, Anselmus Wagner and József Frigyes Wagner) whose works can be found in the collections from Banat.