Jakov Orfelin

Jakov Orfelin (Cyrillic Serbian: Јаков Орфелин, born in Vukovar or Sremski Karlovci, Habsburg monarchy, c. mid-eighteenth century – Arad, Habsburg Monarchy, 20 October 1803) was a Serbian Baroque painter.
He made iconostasis for the churches of Bačka and Syrmia regions and also some portraits. He is the nephew of the painter, engraver and writer Zaharije Orfelin.

Biography

Jakov Orfelin received his first artistic education from his uncle Zaharije Orfelin, with whom he collaborated on church commissions later. In 1766, he pursued his art studies in Vienna at the Art Academy and took courses at the newly-founded engraving academy directed by Jacob Matthias Schmutzer (1733-1811).
One of his earliest work was the iconostasis in Grgeteg Monastery (1774) which was in 1902 replaced with the iconostasis done by Uroš Predić. In 1780-1781, he collaborated with Teodor Kračun in the iconostasis painting of the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Sremski Karlovci, considered by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts to be "a summit of Baroque painting in Vojvodina". Also, Orfelin painted the iconostasis in Deliblato, Stapar (1790), Parabuć (now Ratkovo), Veliki Radinci, Kraljevci, and with Stefan Gavrilović the iconostasis in the village of Jarak. His last work, the iconostasis for the church of Bezdin Monastery, was completed in 1802. Among the portraits, the most important is the portrait of Metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović (now in the National Museum in Sremski Karlovci). Jakov Orfelin also did copper engravings. He did the figures of Nemanjić family and other Serbian rulers for Rajić's history illustrations. The figures of saints painted by Orfelin usually have large heads and stocky bodies. Sometimes he painted in the rococo style, using pinkish colors for the garments of saints, for example in the style of the Passion of Christ in Sremski Karlovci. However, his throne icons are based on Byzantine traditions in painting. For Orfelin it could be said, "that he is the typical representative of the transition period between the baroque and rococo styles."

Works

Iconostases

The iconostasis of the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Sremski Karlovci is his most famous work.
* 1773: the iconostasis of the Church of St. Nicholas of Kikinda, sometimes attributed to Teodor Ilić Češljar;
* 1774: the first iconostasis of the church of the monastery of Grgeteg;
* 1776: the iconostasis of the Church of St. Sava in Maradik;
* 1778: the iconostasis of the Church of the Transfiguration of Obrež;
* 1780: the iconostasis of the church of St. Luke Kupinovo, attributed to Jakov Orfelin;
* 1780-1781: the iconostasis of the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Sremski Karlovci, in collaboration with Teodor Kračun;
* 1788: the iconostasis of the church of St. Theodore-Tiron of Irig;
* 1790: the iconostasis of the Church of the Presentation-of-the-Mother-of-God-in-Temple of Stapar;
* 1792: the iconostasis of the Church of St. George Ratkovo;
* 1793: the iconostasis of the church Saint-Gabriel (Saint-Michel) of Veliki Radinci;
* 1794: the iconostasis of the Church of St. Nicholas of Kraljevci;
* 1797: the iconostasis of the Church of St. George of Jarak, in collaboration with Stefan Gavrilović
* 1802: The iconostasis of the church of Bezdin Monastery near Arad.

Portraits

* Portrait of Jovan Haranitović, priest in Kraljevci
* Portrait of Marta Tekelija (the wife of Jovan Tekelija), before 1791, Gallery of the Matica srpska

Other
* Jakov Orfelin's representation of Tsar Dušan the Mighty to illustrate Jovan Rajić's "''Istorija raznih slovenskih narodov, najpače Bolgar, Horvatov i Serbov''" (History of various Slav peoples, especially Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs), published for the first time in 1768 and in an edition in four volumes in 1794-1795, also served as a direct source of inspiration for those who came after him, for example, Đura Jakšić's painting of the same ruler in 1857.

See also

* List of painters from Serbia

References

External links

Mother of God with Christ
Jakov Orfelin – a throne icon at iconostasis of church in Kraljevci, Srem

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orfelin, Jakov
18th-century Serbian painters
18th-century male artists
18th-century births
Year of birth missing
1803 deaths