In most art encyclopedias — with the exception of the Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon online/Artists of the World online, whose editor-in-chief modified the birth date after I had contacted him a few years ago — Alajos Unger’s birthdate is rendered as 1815. In reality though, he was born in 1814 and baptised on 29 October 1814 in Győr Belváros. So how come he is listed as being born in 1815 elsewhere?

The reason for this must be that the records at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts just state his age as 21 without specifying it any further when he enrolled as a regular student in 1836. The exact date of birth was not recorded and later researchers never checked the parish records in Győr, but rather assumed that he had been born a year later.

To finish off today’s post I should like to post a few pictures I took in Győr recently. The town has preserved its historical character although much has indeed changed since the mid-1800s.