The Tragedy of Man
reflected in illustrations

Speaking allegorically: hardly dried up the ink on the manuscript of the Tragedy, hardly came out the first copy from the press, this dramatic text inspired the society of artists right away. An excellent example is Mór Than's lesser-known picture made by the painter back in 1863. Today this - rather large - oil painting (173x202 cm, in a special frame) is own by the Hungarian National Gallery and can be found in the National Széchényi Library as a permanent deposit.

The first, very popular (even nowadays), full series of illustrations was drawn by Mihály Zichy in 1887. Actually he began that tradition when the artist makes a complete series according to the scenes of the Tragedy, often linking the illustrations to one of their key-sentences.

                      Mór Than: Adam in the Space (1863)