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I saw the tapestry Mercury Hands over the Infant Bacchus to the Nymphs at the great exhibition ‘Kárpít 2’ staged at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in 2005. What impressed me most was not this tapestry primarily, but the structure of ‘Kárpít 2’ as a whole. I had never seen an exhibition like it before. I had never witnessed such an artful ‘interweaving’ of old and new in an exhibition with tapestries. Accordingly, this convincing interconnection was the strong and insistent impression I had while visiting this exhibition, for which I had been lucky enough to serve as one of the jurors beforehand.
When I was invited to participate in the Web of Europe project, I immediately recalled this exceptional exhibition from 2005. At the same time, I thought of Ildikó Dobrányi, who (together with like-minded friends) had planned and brought to fruition this beautiful event with admirable energy and perfectly. I thought of her tragic death, and also of the Ildikó Dobrányi Foundation, which cherishes the memory of her outstanding personality and her fine work.
Recalling all this, I decided to dedicate to the memory of Ildikó the woven detail that I would contribute.
When I start to weave a new tapestry, I first have to decide in favour of it, to establish for myself whether it would make sense to begin it, and then to immerse in the new challenge. This applies even in the case of a small piece forming part of a larger work, as in this instance. I decided on this project immediately, and the question of whether it would be sensible to start was answered quickly, for the reasons I set out above.
When I analysed the masterly execution of this tapestry by an eighteenth-century tapestry-weaver (or, probably, more than one) working at the loom, my intention was to use my personal technique, but to weave the piece fairly faithfully to the image I had from the original. I recognised that this was a high-quality tapestry, and that it would be the best not to change or enrich the design.