Faun/on the other side Lovers/

This remarkable double-sided panel from 1869 — a Faun on one face and Lovers on the other — represents an unusual format in Szinyei Merse's early work and points to an experimental, sketchbook mentality that was characteristic of his most inventive period. The year 1869 placed Szinyei Merse in Munich, where he was studying at the Academy alongside Benczúr and other future Hungarian masters, but already developing the personal vision of color and light that would lead to Picnic in May four years later. The mythological Faun subject connects to the Dionysiac tradition also explored by Benczúr, but Szinyei Merse brings a more spontaneous energy to the type. The reverse panel's Lovers subject suggests this may have been an experimental work combining two related subjects in one portable object — perhaps a studio exercise or an intimate gift rather than a formal commission.

Oil on panel, a support that facilitates fine, direct paint application. The use of both faces of a single panel implies an intimate, non-commercial context — the work was made for the artist's own exploration or private use. The smaller scale and dual-sided format connect this to the tradition of study panels and artist's private experiments.