Munkácsy was born Michael von Lieb to German parents in Munkács, Kingdom of Hungary, the town from which he later gathered his pseudonym. [1] After being apprenticed to itinerant painter Elek Szamossy, Munkácsy went to Pest, the capital city, where he sought the patronage of some established artists. With the help of the landscapist Antal Ligeti he received a grant from the state so he could study abroad. In 1865, he studied at the Academy of Vienna under Karl Rahl. In 1866, he went to Munich to study at the Academy, and in 1868 he moved to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf to learn from the popular genre painter Ludwig Knaus. In 1867, he travelled to Paris to see the Universal Exposition. After this trip his style became much lighter, with broader brushstrokes and tonal colour schemes - he was probably influenced by modern French painting seen at the Exposition.

(source: wikipedia)