CROATIAN FINE ART, Vjekoslav Karas

Vjekoslav Karas, Portrait of a Girl, 1857 (oil on canvas, 118.5 cm x 92.5 cm), Modern Gallery, Zagreb (Inventory No.: MG-75) The life and work of Vjekoslav Karas (Karlovac, 1821 – Karlovac, 1858.) will be remembered as a special part of the story about Croatian art and the broader cultural history, mostly due the painter’s interesting, but tragic life story. He was the only painter of this period who came from the northern parts of Croatia and who, thanks to financial resources granted to him by several patrons from Karlovac and Zagreb, received his education in Rome. He started studying painting in modest surroundings, at the workshops of painters and craftsmen from Karlovac. He continued his studies in Florence (1838 – 1841) and after spending a few months in Siena, he eventually studied in Rome, where he lived between 1841 and 1847. The following year he returned to Karlovac due to poverty and lack of financial support. For a brief time he worked as a teacher at a drawing school in Zagreb, after which he left for Bosnia. From 1852 until his death, he lived in Karlovac and Zagreb, poor and dissatisfied with the lack of commissions for artwork. He committed suicide by jumping into the river Korana. His opus is not extensive and it is not uniform in terms of quality. Nevertheless, it is a testimony of an exceptional artistic talent. Moving “between styles” (G. Gamulin), the painter first painted under the influence of the Nazarene movement, which was followed by an attempt of creating his own style based on neoclassical, romantic and Biedermeier influences. He painted Biblical scenes, portraits of citizens, scenes from the life of ordinary people and historical compositions. His paintings were rarely signed and dated. He is the author of several masterpieces of the Croatian 19th-century paintings, most famous of which are: Roman Woman Playing a Mandolin/Lute (Croatian History Museum, Zagreb), painted during his time spent in Rome, between 1845 and 1847. The painting Portrait of a Girl (with doll and dog) from 1857, the last known Karas’ work, was made in Đakovo, where he came to live at the invitation of Josip Juraj Strossmayer, shortly before he died. It is a portrait in a relatively conventional form, dominated by vivid colours of the background, bed and drapery and with an interesting element of landscape visible through an open window. This painting, as the final chapter of the artist’s work, is a testimony of Karas’ talent, attention to details and attempt to create a specific artistic language in the formative period of Croatian national culture.