Sava Petrović (painter)

Sava Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Сава Петровић; Jazvin, Banat, Holy Roman Empire, 1788 - Timişoara, Austrian Empire, 9 June 1857)Динко Давидов: "Споменици Будимске епархије", Београд 1990.was a Serbian icon painter and portraitist.He is the father of international portraitist Pavel Petrović.
He lived and worked in Temisvar but travelled whenever he received commissions to paint icons or portraits. His well-known works are portraits of Bishop Josif Putnik, done in 1830; Josif Rajačić, completed in 1850; and restoration work of a portrait of Bishop Sofronije Kirilović in 1846.Sava was a contemporary of icon painter Arsenije Teodorović and master carvers Arsenije and Aksentije Marković who worked in the Fenek Monastery.
== Biography ==
The painter Sava Petrović was born in 1788 Динко Давидов: "Споменици Будимске епархије", Београд 1990.in the village of Jazvina in Banat. He had sons Nikola, Vladimir and Pavel, who became a well-known international painter, though now mostly forgotten. Sava Petrović was a recognized portraitist and icon painter.
He was a student of Arsenije Teodorović, from whom he copied some motives. As a portraitist, he was basically a classicist, who is not always sure of drawing, and who tends to replace his formal shortcomings with warm and tender colours. "Класицизам код Срба", Београд 1965. In his mature years, he settled permanently in the Serbian suburb of Timisoara, Timiș County.
In 1812, Sava worked in the Orthodox Church in Variaș, together with goldsmith Jovan Bondin. When he married, he acquired civil rights in Timisoara on 2 December 1815.Dr. Berkeszi István: "Temesvári művészek", Temesvar 1909.He lived for many years in Timiș County, a Serbian settlement near Timisoara. On 28 October 1815, he painted a portrait of the Timisoara senator Ferenc Meyer. In 1820, he painted the iconostasis of the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Battonya. In March 1819, he concluded a contract with the church municipality of Mehala to paint the iconostasis in the Nikolajevska (St. Nicholas church) for 10,000 florins. The work started in the same year, during 1819-1820. years. He painted the iconostasis of the Orthodox Church of the summer St. Nikola in Mehala "Темишварски зборник", Нови Сад 3/2001., a suburb of Timisoara, together with Emanuel Antonović, a goldsmith from Timisoara. In the monastery of Bezdin, in 1822, he decided to paint three wall icons about all the woodwork, stoves and shutters of the monastery temple.Стеван Бугарски, Љубомир Степанов: "Историјски и културни споменици Срба у румунском Банату", Темишвар 2008.He is mentioned in 1822 in Arad, together with Mihail Janić, a woodcarver. It seems that in 1826, the goldsmith Aleksija Teodorović worked with Sava Petrović and Antonović also appeared together in 1828 in Parta, where they cleaned the old iconostasis.
He worked as a painter and secular motifs, several portraits of Orthodox church dignitaries and noble citizens. He painted a portrait of the Bishop of Budva, Justin Jovanović, before 1834, in the Arad County."Српски сион", Сремски Карловци 1901.
== About son Pavel ==
His son Pavel Petrović (1818-1852) was also a painter. Милош Поповић: "Верско-црквени живот Срба у Банату", Зрењанин 2001. Together with his father, he appeared in Timisoara in 1834 as a subscriber to the "painter"Милован Видаковић: "Путешествије у Јерусалим", Будим 1834., a book by Milovan Vidaković. This confirms that he first studied with his father Sava, in their painting workshop. He graduated from the Academy of Painting in Vienna (1834-1837). After returning from studies, he married Draginja Popov in Modoš in 1838, and that is the reason why he settled there. He painted the iconostasis in the church of St. Nikola in Modoš in 1839.Милош Поповић, наведено делоWe find it 1839-1841. in Modoš, where he painted next to icons and portraits of the local citizens. Pavel, a representative of the Neoclassicism and the best expert, proved himself in painting portraits. Two portraits are known, his work: priest Lazar Popović and his wife Mila. After five years of marriage, when he was "fed up" with family life, he made an agreement with his wife: he would leave home under the obligation to send her and his children (Teodor and Kristina) 300 pounds a year for subsistence. "Зборник Матице српске за друштвене науке", Нови Сад 1950.Between 1843 and 1852 alone, an adventurous spirit really travelled the world; toured all of Europe, India, China. He came to Europe, to Paris in 1847, where he was greeted with honours. He wrote a letter to his family from Hong Kong in 1850. The following year, 1851, he arrived in America, where he lost all his property and studio in a fire in Los Angeles. Иван Кукуљевић Сакцински: "Словник умјетниках југословенских", Загреб 1858.His father and Pavel's wife officially sought him out, through consular offices, because he was not fulfilling his obligation to his family.
== Work == 
* Iconostasis in the Serbian Orthodox Church in Varias
* Iconsotasis in the Serbian Orhtodox church in Mehala, suburb of Timisoara
* Iconostasis in the Serbian Orthodox church in Bata, Arad
* Iconostasis in the Serbian Orthodox church in Parța
* Iconostasis in the Serbian Orthodox church in Sânnicolau Mare
==Portraits==
* Portrait of the merchant Spirta, in the National Museum Pančevo
* Portrait of Bishop Justin Jovanović
==Sources==
* Dr. Berkeszi István, cited work
* Dinko Davidov: "Monuments of the Diocese of Buda", Belgrade 1990.
* "Classicism among Serbs", Belgrade 1965.
* Dr. Berkeszi István: "Temesvári művészek", Temesvar 1909.
* "Timisoara anthology", Novi Sad 3/2001.
* Stevan Bugarski, Ljubomir Stepanov: "Historical and Cultural Monuments of Serbs in Romanian Banat", Timisoara 2008.
* "Serbian Zion", Sremski Karlovci 1901.
* Miloš Popović: "Religious-church life of Serbs in Banat", Zrenjanin 2001.
* Milovan Vidaković: "Journeys to Jerusalem", Budim 1834.
* Miloš Popović, cited work
* "Zbornik Matice srpske za drustvene nauke", Novi Sad 1950.
* Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski: "Slovnik umjetnikah jugoslovenskih", Zagreb 1858.
Category:1788 births
Category:1857 deaths
Category:Serbian painters