The central figure of the Schmidlechner family tomb monument is the Virgin Mary, whose figure absorbed in prayer expresses not only mourning, but also the consolation and hope born of faith.
Bory Jenő created the Schmidlechner family tomb monument in the arcade of the Kerepesi Road Cemetery in Budapest in 1910. It preserves the memory of Károly Schmidlechner (1863–1910), a chemical engineer and professor at the Royal Joseph University of Technology, and his family. Schmidlechner was a noted figure in Hungarian higher technical education and the training of chemical engineers at the turn of the century, playing a significant role in university life both as a teacher and a researcher.
The monument’s central element is a statue of the Madonna carved in white marble. Its composition is based on the contrast between the figure standing upon the pedestal and the black backdrop rising behind it with a semicircular arch. The effect is at once monumental and contemplative.
In creating the sculpture, Bory Jenő was inspired by the celebrated statue of the Virgin at the sanctuary in Lourdes. While the Virgin at the French pilgrimage site raises her gaze towards heaven, Bory’s figure appears with closed eyes, bowed head and hands clasped in prayer. The work thus emphasises not the moment of supplication, but silent inward prayer and spiritual repose. The dark background may also evoke the grotto at Lourdes for the viewer.
The figure of the Madonna carries the monument’s religious message. Here Bory did not portray the deceased, but used one of the most familiar figures of the Christian faith to express the ideas of remembrance, consolation and hope in eternal life.
The work attracted attention even at the time of its creation: the marble Madonna was exhibited at the Műcsarnok’s 1911 Spring Exhibition. Bory considered the composition so successful that several versions were made. One example is in the parish church at Muraszombat, while another stands in a wall niche beside the sanctuary of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Székesfehérvár.