Portrait of Đurđija Lunjevica, by Stevan Todorović
Historical Museum of Serbia
Belgrade, Serbia
www.imus.org.rs
Portrait of Đurđija Lunjevica, woman in Serbian costume, 1874
Stevan Todorović (Novi Sad, 1832 – Belgrade, 1925)
Oil on canvas, 80 × 60 cm
© Historical Museum of Serbia
Text: Tijana Jovanović Češka, Adviser, Historical Museum of Serbia, Belgrade
The portrait of Đurđija Lunjevica is one of the better-known 19th century female portraits in Serbian art. The author Stevan Todorović himself made a replica of this portrait, and a little later his wife Poleksija Todorović (1848–1939), who was also a painter, made a copy of this portrait. In addition to his biography, Stevan Todorović stated that in 1874 he painted two portraits of Đurđija Lunjevica, one of which is kept in the Historical Museum of Serbia. Two decades later, around 1899, Poleksija painted a portrait of Đurđija Lunjevica based on her husband’s original, and her copy was identical to the original in terms of composition and treatment of clothing, but the figure of Đurđija Lunjevica was discreetly made older.
Đurđija Lunjevica, born Čarapić (1804–1881), was the wife of Nikola Milićević Lunjevica, a great Serbian patriot, a rich merchant, who with his capital significantly financed both Serbian uprisings at the beginning of the 19th century, which led to the liberation and independence of the Serbian state. They had five children, the most historically interesting of whom was Pantelija Panta Lunjevica, the father of the Serbian Queen Draga Obrenović.
In the portrait, Đurđija Lunjevica is presented in a Serbian costume, a traditional women’s ceremonial dress of the 19th century, in her late seventies. Her striking figure, which gives off a strong and dominant character, was impeccably executed in detail by Stevan Todorović, one of the most significant representatives of Serbian Romanticism. The dark neutral background brings to the fore the illuminated figure of an old woman in a solemn, dignified pose, which can be said to symbolize the Serbian woman of the 19th century in all her strength, beauty and calmness.
Stevan Todorović (1832–1925) studied painting in Vienna and Munich and visited galleries and museums in Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. As a painter and public worker, he participated in almost all international exhibitions: Ethnographic in Moscow, World in Paris and Balkan in London, as well as at all Yugoslav exhibitions. With the famous Serbian painter Milan Đ. Milićević he was travelling through Serbian lands and painted local people, folk customs and monasteries. He was a member of the Serbian Royal Academy and left behind a large number of works: portraits, ethnographic motifs, sketches of objects, historical compositions and icons.
LES AMIS DU PATRIMOINE EUROPÉEN 