The Conquest of Belgrade
Katarina Ivanović, 1844
The Conquest of Belgrade is an oil on canvas by the Romantic painter Katarina Ivanović, one of the first significant women painters in Serbia. It shows the capture of Belgrade by Serbian insurgents in late 1806, during the First Serbian Uprising, a battle that proved decisive for the revolt. The scene focuses on the night action led by Uzun Mirko and his companions, who seized one of the city gates while the Ottomans were celebrating Bajram; according to tradition, one of them climbed onto a cannon to signal that the gate was secured. Ivanović later said she had been inspired by reading a history of the Serb people while studying in Munich. She composed the work between 1844 and 1845 in Belgrade, where she visited the battle site and spoke with some of the participants. Critics in the city received it coolly, largely because of its weak composition and spatial handling, though its colour, with cinnabar, umber and ochre tones, has been admired. Its theatrical, tenebrist manner recalls French Romantic models, and the painting belongs to the holdings that became the core of the National Museum of Serbia.
- Painter
- Katarina Ivanović
- Date
- 1844
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Museum
- National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade