Treasures from Budapest

The first sight that greets the visitor to the Royal Academy's main galleries is a massive altarpiece dedicated to St. Andrew. In addition to the central panel of the martyrdom and the wings, there is a painted limewood statue on the saint and an elaborate canopy towering above. It's a smashing indication of the unexpected delights within the Hungarian national collection. All the big names of European art are present and correct (Raphael's Esterhazy Madonna might be the star attraction) as well as those anonymous artists who created the likes of that altarpiece. There's a particularly impressive collection of Old Master drawings, built up by Nikolaus II Esterhazy, which are typically stunning in terms of both closely-observed detail and vibrant swirling line. Elsewhere my personal favourites includes a dramatic Ribera Martydom of St Andrew, with the saint's body glowing through the engulfing darkness and a typically cheering portrait by Hals, full of bold brush strokes. Cuyp's painting of cows in a river with a huge expanse of sky behind was rather endearing and Jan Breughel the Elder's painting of the animals waiting to enter the Ark was full of lovely touches (I especially liked the pair of cats up a tree, apparently sizing up the birds as a potential meal) The big surprise though waited in the final room: Sandor Ziffer's Landscape with a Fence, a banal title disguising a wonderful burst of colour. A vibrant red mounrain towers over a landscape painted in jewel-like colours. Noone would ever describe it as naturalistic but it's almost too sumptuous for words.