Relocation of Serbs (picture)

From the mid-1890s, a period began in the works of Jovanovic, devoted mainly to paintings on historical subjects. During this period, the paintings “Such an uprising” (1895), “Resettlement of the Serbs”, “Vrshatsevsky triptych” and later “Coronation of King Dushan” (1900), “Teutonic Fury”, “Battle in the Teutobush Forest” and others were created. In 1895, Jovanovic met with the young king Alexander Obrenovich , who praised his historical canvases. The artist also received an order from the government for two monumental compositions dedicated to the history of Serbia, which were planned to be presented at the millennium exhibition in Budapest in 1896.

So the paintings “Resettlement of Serbs” and “Vrshatsevsky triptych” were created. The first painting was commissioned by the Karlovych Parliamentary Committee, led by Serbian Patriarch George Brankovich , to perpetuate the first resettlement of the Serbs , led by Patriarch Arseny III in 1690; The contract value was 10 thousand forints . The second composition was ordered by the municipality of Vrsac , the artist’s hometown.

Starting to create the painting “Resettlement of Serbs”, Jovanovic met with the patriarch, consulted with his church council, and together with the historian-archimandrite Illarion Rouvarac, visited the Fruscogorsk monasteries in search of historical evidence and documents.

As a result of hard work that lasted ten months, in the spring of 1896 both paintings - “Relocation of Serbs” (at that time the largest painting by Serbian artists) and “Vrsacevsky triptych” - were completed and presented to Patriarch George. However, the patriarch was dissatisfied with the composition of the "Relocation", mainly for political and ideological reasons. He demanded to redo the right side of the picture, which depicted carts and a herd of sheep, which gave the impression of a “flight” of the Serbian people, and replace them with a soldier.

Jovanovic corrected the picture accordingly, however, he didn’t give up his own vision and created another version of the “Relocation of Serbs”, which is currently stored in the National Museum in the city of Pancevo and is considered the most “original” of all other versions and copies of the picture. Due to these disagreements, it was decided to send a second painting, the Vršatse Triptych, depicting the harvest and the Vrsac market to the millennium exhibition in Budapest.

The third version of the "Relocation" was created in 1945 after the news (which later turned out to be false) that the very first picture, which was in the dining room of the Patriarchal Palace in Sremski Karlovtsi , was destroyed. The third variation of the painting was presented at an exhibition at the National Museum of Belgrade in 1998.