Károly Alexy

Who was Károly Alexy?

Károly Alexy was a Hungarian sculptor. His sculptural style integrated elements of classicism and romanticism.

Alexy was born in Poprad. After attending the Vienna Academy, he created small bronzes "Faust and Margaret", and "Egmond and Klara".

Alexy is perhaps most famous for his series of field marshal sculptures which he began in 1844. He did plan a sculpture of "King Matthias" of Hungary but it did not prove to be successful. In 1845 he worked on sculptures for the Hermina Chapel in Budapest. Several of his works ("King Matthias", "Marie Therese", "Christ under the Oil Trees", etc.) were exhibited in 1846. Alexy then created a bust of Lajos Batthyány in 1848.

Interested in politics, Alexy participated in the Hungarian War of Independence between 1848 and 1849, and as a result he was sentenced to imprisonment for over ten years. However, he was released far earlier than expected and emigrated to London in the late 1850s, where he recreated the busts of Lajos Batthyány and Lajos Kossuth.

On his return to Budapest, Hungary in 1861, he worked as an art teacher until his death there.