Simon Josephus HOLLÓSY, born on February 2, 1857, in Sighet, Maramureș County, and died on May 8, 1918, in Teceul Mare (now in Ukraine), was a Romanian-Armenian painter from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He is considered one of the most important painters adhering to naturalism and realism in 19th-century painting. Hollósy was more influential as a teacher than as an artist. As a professor, he significantly influenced the painters working in the Artist Colony, which he helped found in 1896. Their work in Baia Mare was pivotal at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
The painting Cetatea Hustului was included in the heritage of the Maramureș Museum on October 25, 1959. In the 1980s, it was exhibited in the museum’s history exhibition, and in the 1990s, it was moved to the memorial house “Dr. Ioan Mihalyi de Apșa,” due to the connections Simon Hollósy had with the Mihalyi de Apșa family.
However, as we know, this was not the end of the adventure for this famous artwork. On February 2, 1992, the painting was stolen and sold in Hungary, to the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. It was recovered two years later and thus returned to the “Dr. Ioan Mihalyi de Apșa” memorial house.
Through its history, the Cetatea Hustului painting is part of the past and, above all, of the identity of the historical region of Maramureș. It is, therefore, one of the most important objects in the collection of the Maramureș Museum, the only museum institution that preserves this past and identity. (Alin Pralea)
