Coronation Of Tsar Dušan
The Proclamation of Tsar Dusan Law
Belgrade, Serbia
The National Museum
About The National Museum, Belgrade
1900
Pavle (Paja) Jovanovic (1859, Vrsac, Serbia-1957, Vienna, Austria)
31-1255
Oil on canvas
390 x 589 cm
Vienna, Austria
The Coronation of Tsar Dušan was painted on commission from the Kingdom of Serbia for the 1900 Paris Exposition. Jovanović began to prepare for it two years ahead, taking trips and gathering material in Vienna (Habsburg Court Library), Constantinople, Venice, Skopje, Kosovo and Metohija (Gračanica Monastery). Jovanović's consultant in the creation of this piece was the renowned Serbian historian Stojan Novaković. The artist used the plein air (outdoor) painting technique fashionable at the time, one of the reasons being the wish of the commissioning party, more specifically King Milan Obrenović, that Jovanović produce a work suitable for crafting a large tapestry. The painting was unveiled at the 1900 Paris Exposition, drawing flattering recognition and praise and winning a gold medal. The artist was somewhat unhappy with the choice of painting technique, and repeated the subject of Tsar Dušan's coronation (or the Proclamation of Dušan's Code, as it was called for a time after World War II) on numerous occasions after the Paris Expo, in various formats, in different ways and for various purposes until late in life. The fact that there are more than ten replicas and variants by the author himself known to date, speaks of how much this work was esteemed and sought after.
Petar Petrovic "Coronation Of Tsar Dušan" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;sb;4;en
Prepared by: Petar Petrovic
Copyedited by: Daniel de la VegaDaniel de la Vega
Daniel de la Vega is a copy editor based in Portland, Oregon. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2014 and has since done editing and localization work on everything from college applications to magazines to video game dialogue.
MWNF Working Number: RS 004
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