ROSKOVICS IGNÁC

Having received recognition as a portraitist, master of genre painting and monumental church wall painting, he created a series of drawings dedicated to people and nature of Transcarpathia, thus laying the foundation for realistic art in the region. Roshkovych was born Slavkivtsi village (now Slovakia) in the family of a Greek Catholic priest. In 1857 the family moved to Uzhhorod. Ferenz Geverdle, a drawing teacher at the Uzhhorod gymnasium, noticed the artistic talent of the student and began teaching him privately. In 1875 Roshkovych joined the Budapest Academy of Arts, where his teachers were such outstanding Hungarian artists as G. Benczúr and B. Sekel.

He also studied in Paris, Munich and Rome. From Italy the artist returned in 1883 to Uzhhorod and worked as a drawing teacher. From 1885 until the end of his life the artist lived in Budapest. That was the period of the artist's highest creative activity. He worked a lot as a painter and illustrator. In 1885, he arranged a solo exhibition in Budapest. For his work “A Little Red Apple” presented at this exhibition he was awarded a prize and a Grand Diploma of the Hungarian Society of Fine Arts. The artist performed numerous temple paintings in different parts of Hungary, Romania, Slovakia.

In Transcarpathia his paintings appeared in the churches of Uzhhorod, Mukachevo, Velyki Kopani. For religious painting the artist received several awards, including the state small Hungarian gold medal in 1900. Roshkovych was well acquainted with the future founder of Transcarpathian school of painting Yosyp Bokshai, who, while studying in Budapest, visited the artist in 1914. Roshkovych was also a famous master of genre painting and portrait. His realistic portraits, executed in the traditional academic manner, although rather monotonous in composition and colouristic solution, perfectly reproduce the inner world of a human.

The genre works of the artist are mostly sentimental and idyllic everyday scenes. An important page of his work was the fulfilment of book illustrations, in particular to the articles of the fifth volume of the publication “Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Word and Picture” dedicated to Transcarpathia. In particular, this publication contained graphic images of the castle and county house in Uzhhorod, the landscapes of Perechyn, Uzhok pass, everyday life scenes of Pidkarpatska Rus and Rusyns in folk clothes.