Uroš Knežević ( sr-cyr, Урош Кнежевић; 2 January 1811 – 21 October 1876) was a Serbian painter. Knežević is best-known as portraitist, having produced more than 200 portraits, mostly of notable people of his time.

Life

He was born in

Sremski Karlovci Sremski Karlovci ( sr-cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ; hu, Karlóca; tr, Karlofça) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danub ...

to father Teodor and mother Julijana. Even though he spent most of his life in Serbia, there is very little information about his life. About his first years of education the artist himself wrote that he had enjoyed drawing even as a child and that he felt thoroughly devoted to drawing. He first studied drawing at the Karlovci Gymnasium. He transfers from

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in 1834, where he actively practices painting until 1844. His work was essential in introducing art to

and educating the local population in art appreciation. During his time in

he supported himself by painting portraits of the local nobility and prominent citizens. However, the local population was still quite unwelcoming of the art, and the portrait fees were often not paid. This made it difficult for Knežević to earn enough to support himself, let alone to save enough for his education in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Even the royal family refused to pay for the many portraits, coats of arms and other symbols that Knežević made for them. Finally, he found well-paying work in painting walls and icons for

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

churches. This enabled him to save enough to study in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. About his stay in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

he writes that it was a very happy time of his life, and he was the happiest when his work was recognized by being exhibited in the Viennese Art Exhibition of 1846. However, the Viennese Royal Art Academy does not even have a record of his name among the students. Some sources indicate that Knežević also painted the portraits of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (Serbian linguist and reformer of the

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...

) and his family, apart from the military, civic and political leadership. According to the portraits made by Knežević, it can be concluded that Serbian leaders tended towards modernization; hence their portraits with remarkably luxurious clothes; golden braided and richly embroidered. In 1871 Knežević became sick and started working less. He is considered one of the foremost Serbian portraitist of the nineteenth century.

Gallery

File:Вук Стефановић Караџић.1846.jpg, ''Portrait of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić'', 1846 File:Stevan Knićanin, Uroš Knežević.jpg, ''Portrait of Stevan Knićanin'', 1849 File:Uroš Knežević - Karađorđe, 1852.jpg, ''Portrait of

Karađorđe Petrović Đorđe Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Ђорђе Петровић, ), better known by the sobriquet Karađorđe ( sr-Cyrl, Карађорђе, lit=Black George, ; – ), was a Serbian revolutionary who led the struggle for his country's independ ...

'', 1852 File:Jelena Karađorđević.jpg, ''Portrait of Jelena Karađorđević'', 1850 File:PrinceAlexander I w.jpg, ''Portrait of

Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia Alexander Karađorđević ( sr-cyr, Александар Карађорђевић, Aleksandar Karađorđević; 11 October 1806 – 3 May 1885) was the prince of Serbia between 1842 and 1858 and a member of the House of Karađorđević. Early li ...

'' File:Sima Nenadović 01.jpg, ''Portrait of

Sima Nenadović Simeon "Sima" Nenadović ( sr-cyr, Сима Ненадовић; 1793 – 1815) was a Serbian ''voivode'' (military commander) in the Second Serbian Uprising of the Serbian revolution. He was part of the Nenadović family, among which was his bro ...

'', 1850 File:Jakov Nenadović 01.jpg, ''Portrait of

Jakov Nenadović Jakov Nenadović ( sr-cyr, Јаков Ненадовић; 1765 – 1836) was a Serbian voivode and politician who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 31 December 1810 to 22 January 1811. He was the first Serbian interior minister. Nenadov ...

'', 1850 File:Veljko Petrović.jpg, ''Portrait of

Hajduk Veljko Veljko Petrović ( sr-cyr, Вељко Петровић, ; c. 1780 – 1813), known simply as Hajduk Veljko (Хајдук Вељко, ǎjduːk v̞ɛ̌ːʎkɔ, was one of the '' vojvodas'' (military commanders) of the Serbian Revolutionary force ...

'', 1852 File:Janićije Đurić.jpg, ''Portrait of Janićije Đurić'', 1852-1855 File:Кнегиња Персида Карађорђевић (1813-1873).jpg, ''Portrait of

Persida Nenadović Persida Nenadović ( sr-cyr, Персида Ненадовић; 15 February 1813 – 29 March 1873) was the Princess consort of Serbia as the wife of Alexander Karađorđević, who ruled the Principality of Serbia from his election on 14 Sept ...

'', 1855 File:Uzun-Mirko Apostolović, Uroš Knežević.jpg, ''Uzun-Mirko Apostolović'', 1865 File:Uroš Knežević, Cincar-Janko.jpg, ''Portrait of Cincar-Janko Popović''

References

''Note: adapted from Serbian Wikipedia''

External links

*http://www.arte.rs/sr/umetnici/uros_knezevic-3942/opus/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Knezevic, Uros Serbian painters 1811 births 1876 deaths 19th-century Serbian people Romantic painters People from Sremski Karlovci