Vjekoslav Karas (19 May 1821 - 5 July 1858) was a Croatian painter, considered a pioneer of a new era of Croatian painting and art in general.

Life

Born in

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, Karas was sent to be educated in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1838. While in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he drew inspiration from

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and religious themes, painting ''Mother with Moses on the river bank''. While in Italy he developed a love for music and learned to play the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

while composing songs in both Italian and Croatian. He began focusing his craft on portraits, painting ''Roman woman playing a lute'' and ''Roman commoner'' before returning to Karlovac in 1848. Upon his return, he continued painting portraits and began painting local country life and local folk. He moved to

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and began teaching. From 1851-18522 he traveled to

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

where he painted a portrait of Ottoman field marshal and governor Omer-paša Latas and his daughter. Karas suffered periodically from depression and had even attempted suicide. He briefly stayed with

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Josip Juraj Strossmayer Josip Juraj Strossmayer, also Štrosmajer (; german: Joseph Georg Strossmayer; 4 February 1815 – 8 April 1905) was a Croatian politician, Roman Catholic Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop, and benefactor (law), benefactor. Early life an ...

Đakovo Đakovo (; hu, Diakovár) is a town in the region of Slavonia, Croatia. Đakovo is the centre of the fertile and rich Đakovo region ( hr, Đakovština ). Etymology The etymology of the name is the gr, διάκος (diákos) in Slavic form đ ...

, but left soon after his suicide attempt. Still suffering from depression and living in poverty, Karas committed suicide by drowning in the

Korana The Korana is a river in central Croatia and west Bosnia and Herzegovina. The river has a total length of and watershed area of . The river's name is derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*karr-'' 'rock'. It was recorded in the 13th century as '' ...

river in his native

Gallery

File:Young-woman-with-a-mandolin-vekoslav-karas.jpg, ''Roman woman playing a lute'' Image:Majka izlaze Mojsija na obalu rijeke.jpg, ''Mother with Moses on the river bank'' File:Dječak.jpg, ''Child'' File:Portret Josefine Barac - Bernardic.jpg, Portrait of Josefine Barac File:Misko kresic.jpg, Portrait of Miško Krešić File:Mrs Kresic Vjekoslav Karas.jpg, Portrait of Ana Krešić

References

Sources

External links

KARAS, Vjekoslav
at lzmk.hr

1821 births 1858 deaths People from Karlovac Suicides by drowning Artists who died by suicide 19th-century Croatian painters Croatian male painters 1850s suicides 19th-century Croatian male artists {{croatia-painter-stub