Árpád Feszty

Árpád Feszty (December 24, 1856 - June 1, 1914) was a Hungarian painter.

He was born in the town of Ógyalla (then Hungary, now Hurbanovo, Slovakia). His ancestors were German settlers (the original family name was Rehrenbeck). He mostly painted scenes from Hungarian history and religion.

He studied in Munich from 1874, and later (1880-81) in Vienna. After returning home to Hungary, he was made famous by his two works entitled "Golgota" ("Calvary") and "Bányaszerencsétlenség" ("Accident in a Quarry"). He painted his well-known monumental picture depicting the Magyar conquest of Hungary in 1896 for the 1000th anniversary of the Conquest, with the help of many others, including Jenő Barcsay, Dániel Mihalik and László Mednyánszky. It was seriously damaged during World War II (the painting, some 1800 m² in size, was cut up into 8-metre-long pieces, which were rolled up and stored in various museum warehouses). It wasn't until 1995 that it was restored and exhibited at the Ópusztaszer National Memorial Site in Hungary.

He lived in Florence from 1899 to 1902. After returning home, he painted smaller pictures and increasingly suffered from financial difficulties.

His art combined academic and naturalist tendencies. Several of his works are in the possession of the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest.

His brothers Adolf and Gyula Feszty were both known architects; his daughter Masa (Mária) Feszty also became a painter of mainly landscapes, portraits and religious scenes. Among others, her portrait of the Hungarian sculptor Ede Kallós is owned by the Hungarian National Gallery.