Portrait of Artúr Görgey

Artúr Görgey was one of the most controversial figures in Hungarian history — a general who surrendered to Russian forces at Világos in 1849, ending the Hungarian War of Independence, an act that made him a hero to some and a traitor to others for the rest of his very long life. De László painted Görgey's portrait in 1901, by which time the general was in his eighties and had been living in quiet obscurity for decades. The choice of subject — a man central to the national trauma of 1849 — was politically charged, and de László's ability to produce a convincing portrait of this aged, complex figure demonstrated his position within Hungarian public life.

The aged general's face — deeply lined, with the bearing of a man who had known great events and their aftermath — is painted with careful attention to the specifics of very old age. De László avoids both flattery and caricature, rendering Görgey with the psychological authority of a painter who has studied his subject closely.