Describe the characteristics of the Modern history in this artwork's History.
In 1818, a Hungarian sculptor, István Ferenczy, moved from Hungary to Rome and spent 6 years there as a student of the acclaimed sculptors Bertel Thorvaldsen and Antonio Canova. During his stay in Rome, Ferenczy gathered a collection of 82 works of art, including this statuette, which he had acquired in the mistaken belief that it was a Greek work. In 1846 he prepared an inventory with the intention of selling the collection to the Hungarian state, still with the statuette as an ancient work from Athens, but the sale did not go through. As Ferenczy's will stated that the crates of his collection were not to be opened for 50 years, the collection remained untouched for a long time after his death in 1856. The family reached a deal with the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest and sold the collection to them in 1914, still none the wiser about the statuette. After discovering its provenance, the heirs sued the museum for a misleading sale and poor payments during the aftermath of World War I.Simon Meller, the curator of the Budapest museum, began exploring the statuette with more knowledge of Leonardo's equestrian works. He came to the conclusion that the style of the statuette is consistent with Leonardo's other works, particularly those in the studies for the painting of The Battle of Anghiari and the Trivulzio monument. He attributed the statuette to Leonardo da Vinci for the first time since the 17th century, and published it in a 1916 journal of the museums in the Prussian region. To mark the occasion, another sculptor in the Ferenczy family, Béni Ferenczy, gifted Meller a commemorative medal with a relief of the statuette. The statuette became a permanent exhibit in the museum in the 1920s.The 1940s were a tumultuous time for Europe's artworks, with the statuette, the Holy Crown of Hungary, and many other works of art captured in the Nazi plunder. During World War II, Hungary joined the Axis powers in 1940. In September 1942, Russia unexpectedly bombed Budapest. The museum began the protection of their works of art by packing them into crates and moving them to lower floors. Considered one of the most precious works in the museum's collection, the statuette and the works of Old Masters were taken further west from the Eastern Front to Veszprém in early 1943. Once Hungary started attempts to reach peace with the Allies, Germany invaded the country in March 1944.The Museum of Fine Arts was under the control of the Ministry of Education, where the newly installed Ferenc Rajniss, sympathetic to the Nazi rule, ordered the majority of the museum's artwork to be sent to Austria. The director of the museum had no trace of their whereabouts. In late 1944, the Red Army captured Budapest in the Budapest Offensive, and damaged or destroyed a large part of the buildings in the city. The Museum of Fine Arts building suffered damage to its roof, ruining the halls on the top floor, which prior to its evacuation housed the collection with the statuette. Some of the remaining artwork was smashed or burned by the Soviets. The museum did not hear of the evacuated art again until after the end of the war. In August 1945, they were contacted by the "Monuments Men" working in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program in Munich. They had been cataloging art looted by the Nazis, and at the Munich Central Collecting Point had works of art from the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts. The statuette, along with most of the other artwork, was returned to the museum by 1947.The statuette was exhibited in London in 1930. More recently, it was in New York, Washington and Atlanta in 2009, and in Los Angeles in 2010. During the renovation of the Budapest museum until 2018, it has been on another tour: Paris and Mantova, Italy in 2016, Madrid in 2017, and Buenos Aires in 2018.
Allies Veszprém István Ferenczy Bertel Thorvaldsen Munich Central Collecting Point aftermath of World War I Leonardo da Vinci Old Master Eastern Front Holy Crown of Hungary Budapest Museum of Fine Arts Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest Béni Ferenczy Buenos Aires Nazi plunder invaded the country Budapest Offensive relief Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program Antonio Canova Trivulzio Red Army Axis powers Ferenc Rajniss Prussia