Jakab Marastoni

The native form of this personal name is Marastoni Jakab. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Jakab Marastoni, originally Jacopo Antonio Marastoni (24 March 1804, Venice – 11 July 1860, Pest) was an Italian-born Hungarian portrait painter and lithographer.

Jakab Marastoni; lithograph from a self-portrait (date unknown)

Greek Woman (1845)

Biography

In 1830, he began his studies in Rome. He settled in Pest in 1836, having come by way of Vienna and Pressburg. He soon became a much sought-after portrait painter.

In 1846, he created the Első Magyar Festészeti Akadémiát (First Hungarian Academy of Painting) which, as the name suggests, was the first school in Hungary devoted exclusively to painting. It was a private school, but numbered András Fáy, Gábor Döbrentei and Archduke Stephen, Palatine of Hungary among its patrons and supporters. The school also sold shares to the general public. Károly Lotz, Mihály Zichy, Soma Orlai Petrich and Mihály Kovács were some of the school's best-known students. Shortly after founding the school, Marastoni was named an Honorary Citizen of Pest.

In his later years, he became Hungary's first professional Daguerrotypist. In 1859, his health began to deteriorate rapidly and he had to give up teaching. He soon went blind, and died in a mental institution. The school was closed shortly thereafter.

His son, Josef Marastoni, was also a well-known painter and lithographer in Vienna.

Further reading

• Péter Kornelia, Marastoni Jakab, Vol.38 in the Hungarian Art History series from Pázmány Péter Catholic University (1936)
• Új magyar életrajzi lexikon IV. (L–Ő). Editor-in-Chief, Markó László. Budapest: Magyar Könyvklub. 2002 ISBN 963-547-414-8

External links

• LiveInternet: Paintings and biography (in Russian).