Arsenije Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Арсеније Петровић;
Bela Crkva, Banat, 1803 –
Zemun,
Principality of Serbia, 1870) was a Serbian painter.
Biography
Arsenije Petrović was born in 1803 in
Serbian Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...
and took up art at an early age, however, he was not academically trained, though he had some instruction from a local master painter in
Vršac early on. Considered one of the most important Serbian traveling amateur painters of the 19th century, Petrović art is similar to the autochthonous, wild art of American
tinsmiths and
Folk artists, who share in their use of color and range of expression, spontaneity, skill, and simplicity in their work. His main themes are life and the objects that surround them. His children's portraits are often compared to New York painter
John Bradley.
He did icon painting and portraits for a living. He painted in
Ottoman Serbia in his early career and
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
Srem and
Banat in his later years. He was especially appreciated as a
portraitist of children.
Arsenije Petrović's work first appeared in the
Serbia in 1839. His painting moves between primitive decorativeness and
Biedermeier
The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
naturalism. Despite his
naive art painting, he joined the Serbs of
Austria-Hungary, who played a significant role in the creation of the modern state and the art culture of a young civil society. In 1842 his fame reached the prince's court, where he painted a portrait of little
Peter Karadjordjević, the future king
Peter I. That Arsenije gladly accepted to paint children and that he did so with joy and skill, can be seen from the works exhibited in the
residence of Princess
Ljubica
Ljubica ( sr-cyr, Љубица and mk, Љубица) is a Slavic feminine given name meaning "love" or "kiss", where -ica is a diminutive suffix. Also, ''ljubica'' means violet, while the actual flower is ''ljubičica'', a superdiminutive. It is ...
: Girl with a basket of flowers and Boy with a dove; as well as on the canvas: Portrait of little Petar Radović, from the National Museum in
Niš.
Arsenije Petrović died in
Zemun, then part of
Austria-Hungary, in 1870.
Gallery
Arsenije Petrović (1803-1870) - Portret mladića, 1830.jpg, Portrait of a young man 1830.
Arsenije Petrović, A girl with a flower basket 1845-50.jpg , Girl with a flower basket, 1845–50.
Arsenije Petrović, A boy with a pigeon, 1852.jpg, Boy with a pigeon, 1852.
See also
*
Serbian art
*
List of Serbian painters
This is a list of notable Serbian painters.
A
* Nikola Aleksić (1808–1873)
* Dimitrije Avramović (1815–1855)
* Ljubomir Aleksandrović (1828–1890)
* Stevan Aleksić (1876–1923)
* Dragomir Arambašić (1881–1945)
* Stojan Aralica ...
References
{{authority control
19th-century Serbian painters