András Schossel, the Model Sculptor of the Munkács Ironworks

Abstract

 From the mid-nineteenth century, casts from the Munkács (today Mukachevo, Ukraine) ironworks of the Schönborn family’s manor in Munkács-Szentmiklós have been among the finest works of cast ironworks in Hungary. The present study discusses the life of András Schossel, a designer who began to work in the cast iron foundry from in 1848, and the plastic and applied artworks attributed to him. Schossel was brought up in the ironworks and later trained in Pest and at the Academy of Arts in Vienna, at the expense of the estate. He gave an account of his studies in three letters, written in his own handwriting and published in Hungarian translation in the appendix. Schossel’s work in the foundry involved producing cast iron models for commercial sale, but much of this artisanal work can no longer be identified. Based on his academic qualifications, Schossel also created sculptures, and although he signed only two of them (the Kossuth and Klinkart statues), he was probably the creator of other cast iron busts created in Mukachevo. The only major sculpture created by Schossel, which depicted Zrínyi’s death, is now lost, similar to his building sculptures. Schossel’s oeuvre suggests that he was a rural artisan who always considered himself a sculptor (as well) and made a significant contribution to the artistic quality of the cast iron household goods, stoves, and other architectural casts of the ironworks of Mukachevo.