DOI issue:
No. 236 (November 1912)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21158#0189
Studio-Talk
Mrkvitchka’s most interesting works, however,
are his genre pictures and his historical com-
positions. All these pictures are marked with the
characteristic imprint of the artist’s talent—full of
grace and poetry and sweetness. But the master has
been no less successful in pictures of another kind,
wherein he shows us tragic scenes full of horror,
inspired by the sufferings of the Bulgarians and
Macedonians under the Turkish heel.
Mrkvitchka is known as “the first Bulgarian
painter,” or the “Father of Bulgarian painting.”
And either of these titles is quite accurate. No
artist has depicted Bulgaria so completely or in a
manner so varied; none has represented more
truly or more delicately the characteristic traits of
its inhabitants, the expression of their faces, their
gestures, and the original heaviness of their motley
dress.T|$All the other Bulgarian painters have,
voluntarily or otherwise, come under his influence.
Hence, partly at any rate, we can understand this
peculiarity in Bulgarian art, namely, that it did not
begin, as art begins everywhere else, by imitations
of classical works, but went straight to realism, to
the artistic reproduction of nature and social life.
Mrkvitchka’s remarkable works have won for him
the sympathetic interest of Bulgarians of the highest
class. He was in the good graces of the late
Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who presented
him with a brooch set with diamonds. But it is
the present ruler of Bulgaria, Ferdinand I., who
has shown most kindness to the painter. Soon
after ascending the Bulgarian throne the Prince, as
he then was, on arriving at Philippopolis, paid a visit
to the painter’s studio, and was agreeably surprised
to find in that provincial
town an artist of the true
sort. He bought two pic-
tures, and had them hung in
his study over the desk at
which he works. The late
Princess Marie Louise, who
was devoted to the arts, and
something of an artist her-
self, also had a high opinion
of Mrkvitchka as a painter.
She commissioned him to
paint her portrait, intending
to present it to her regiment.
But when the portrait was
finished it pleased her so
much that she could not bring
herself to part with it. After
the Princess’s death the artist
did another—based on the
first—in the old Bulgarian
style. The Princess, founder
of a new Bulgarian dynasty,
is represented seated on an
antique throne, under the
protection of the Holy
Virgin, the work being
executed in old-style
mosaics.
After the annexation of
Eastern Roumelia to the
principality of Bulgaria,
Mrkvitchka was appointed
professor of drawing at the
lyc(e in Sofia, with the
167
PORTRAIT OF KING FERDINAND OF BULGARIA
BY J. V. MRKVITCHKA
Mrkvitchka’s most interesting works, however,
are his genre pictures and his historical com-
positions. All these pictures are marked with the
characteristic imprint of the artist’s talent—full of
grace and poetry and sweetness. But the master has
been no less successful in pictures of another kind,
wherein he shows us tragic scenes full of horror,
inspired by the sufferings of the Bulgarians and
Macedonians under the Turkish heel.
Mrkvitchka is known as “the first Bulgarian
painter,” or the “Father of Bulgarian painting.”
And either of these titles is quite accurate. No
artist has depicted Bulgaria so completely or in a
manner so varied; none has represented more
truly or more delicately the characteristic traits of
its inhabitants, the expression of their faces, their
gestures, and the original heaviness of their motley
dress.T|$All the other Bulgarian painters have,
voluntarily or otherwise, come under his influence.
Hence, partly at any rate, we can understand this
peculiarity in Bulgarian art, namely, that it did not
begin, as art begins everywhere else, by imitations
of classical works, but went straight to realism, to
the artistic reproduction of nature and social life.
Mrkvitchka’s remarkable works have won for him
the sympathetic interest of Bulgarians of the highest
class. He was in the good graces of the late
Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who presented
him with a brooch set with diamonds. But it is
the present ruler of Bulgaria, Ferdinand I., who
has shown most kindness to the painter. Soon
after ascending the Bulgarian throne the Prince, as
he then was, on arriving at Philippopolis, paid a visit
to the painter’s studio, and was agreeably surprised
to find in that provincial
town an artist of the true
sort. He bought two pic-
tures, and had them hung in
his study over the desk at
which he works. The late
Princess Marie Louise, who
was devoted to the arts, and
something of an artist her-
self, also had a high opinion
of Mrkvitchka as a painter.
She commissioned him to
paint her portrait, intending
to present it to her regiment.
But when the portrait was
finished it pleased her so
much that she could not bring
herself to part with it. After
the Princess’s death the artist
did another—based on the
first—in the old Bulgarian
style. The Princess, founder
of a new Bulgarian dynasty,
is represented seated on an
antique throne, under the
protection of the Holy
Virgin, the work being
executed in old-style
mosaics.
After the annexation of
Eastern Roumelia to the
principality of Bulgaria,
Mrkvitchka was appointed
professor of drawing at the
lyc(e in Sofia, with the
167
PORTRAIT OF KING FERDINAND OF BULGARIA
BY J. V. MRKVITCHKA