Portrait of Countess Nyáryová

Countess Nyáryová sits for Mednyánszky in this 1901 portrait — an unusual commission for a painter more naturally inclined toward landscape and figure studies of social outsiders. Mednyánszky moved in aristocratic circles by birth and social circumstance, and portraits of the nobility were occasionally required of him, even if his heart was elsewhere. The countess's portrait allowed him to demonstrate a technical facility with formal portraiture that coexisted with his more experimental landscape work. The Slovak National Gallery's holdings of his portraits are smaller than those of his landscapes, reflecting the proportions of his actual output.

The formal portrait conventions — controlled lighting, careful attention to dress and jewellery — are observed while Mednyánszky introduces a slightly more atmospheric treatment of the background than strict academic portraiture demanded. His brushwork in the face and hands is deliberate and observant rather than the facile elegance of fashionable portraitists.