Jakab Marastoni

The recorded working language is Hungarian and Italian. The field of work recorded is painting, lithography and daguerreotype process. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Pest. Work by Jakab Marastoni is recorded in the collections of Hungarian National Gallery and Bratislava City Gallery.

In 1830, he began his studies in Rome. He settled in Pest in 1836, having come by way of Vienna and Pressburg. He soon became a much sought-after portrait painter. In 1846, he created the Első Magyar Festészeti Akadémiát (First Hungarian Academy of Painting) which, as the name suggests, was the first school in Hungary devoted exclusively to painting. It was a private school, but numbered András Fáy, Gábor Döbrentei and Archduke Stephen, Palatine of Hungary among its patrons and supporters. The school also sold shares to the general public. Károly Lotz, Mihály Zichy, Soma Orlai Petrich and Mihály Kovács were some of the school's best-known students. Shortly after founding the school, Marastoni was named an Honorary Citizen of Pest. In his later years, he became Hungary's first professional Daguerrotypist. In 1859, his health began to deteriorate rapidly and he had to give up teaching. He soon went blind, and died in a mental institution. The school was closed shortly thereafter. His son, Josef Marastoni, was also a well-known painter and lithographer in Vienna.