Olga Perlep-Procopius (née Olga Numvári Werther, 1844–1927) was a passionate collector of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century miniature paintings, four hundred of which she bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest in 1927 along with ten large portraits of her family.
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Prints and Drawings
Male Portrait
Portrait of a Woman
Portrait of a Child
Portrait of a Man
Francis I
Portrait of a Woman
Portrait of an Old Woman
Portrait of a Woman
Her father, Frigyes Werther, who emigrated in 1831 from Numvár (Naumburg) to Pest, where he founded a distillery, and bequeathed his children his considerable fortune and the noble title on his death. Both Olga’s first and second husbands were wealthy men who supported her passion for collecting, especially Antal Perlep, an official in the Ministry of Finance, with whom she settled in Graz in 1888.
Olga Werther’s miniature collection comprises works of various genres and made with a variety of techniques between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. They include portraits of monarchs, aristocrats, and members of the Werther and Procopius families, some painted by renowned artists while others were the work of amateurs with a love of art. These small paintings also served an important function of remembrance. Portraits of spouses, siblings, mothers, and fathers were set in necklaces, rings, and snuffboxes. They also appeared in ornate mounts on small tables, with dedications or even hidden locks of hair on their reverses, highlighting the important role of these portraits in memorialization. This is also the reason a genuine likeness of the sitter became an especially important criterium, as it created the illusion of the person’s presence. Fine examples of this are the portraits of Baron Ferenc Kray’s daughters by Moritz Daffinger. Although not acquired as a part of the Perlep-Procopius collection, these works perfectly complement them.
