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Early drawings that Meštrović created during his studies in Vienna (1901 – 1906) tell of his rapid assimilation into the cultural atmosphere of the Austrian capital at the turn of the century. Drawing inspiration from literary sources and oral tradition, Meštrović questions the meaning of human existence and the fullness of life, along with the inevitable motifs of suffering, illness and death. Within Meštrović’s oeuvre, these drawings are a rare example of illustrating literary sources and they reveal the sculptor’s boundless imagination and narrative abilities, creating melancholy environments with an abundant repository of visual symbols.
In terms of number and quality, the illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy stand out within the group of symbolist drawings. Young Meštrović received the impetus for their creation from Izidor Kršnjavi, who in the period from 1904 – 1906, was undertaking the translation of the narrative poem. And although his close friend, the painter Mirko Rački worked on the same illustrations, having been commissioned by Kršnjavi to illustrate Dante’s narrative poem, Meštrović’s individual approach to the treatment of the literary template is manifested in the immediate ingress into the scene, without the mediation of a “guide” (Virgil or Dante), and a direct confrontation with the consequences of sin.
The pronounced graphism of the early drawings was achieved with a raster of thin lines (hatching), while he builds the atmosphere in a “painterly” fashion, covering larger surfaces in pastel, watercolour or ink lavee. The manner of composition reveals the influence of large painting compositions of Gustav Klimt. However, while the Austrian painter’s emphasis is on decorativeness and flatness, Meštrović’s drawings, fully in line with his sculptural affinity, leave an impression of tangible spatiality.
Return to Heroism
Vienna, 1904
India ink on paper
20.9 x 16.2 cm
inv. no. GMS-225
The drawing, which he dated and titled himself, undoubtedly refers to Meštrović’s search for inspiration in Slavic legends, that would later culminate in the realisation of the Kosovo Fragments (1908 – 1912). It is evident from the dating of the drawing that his appeal to the past – the heroic times – began long before he presented his sculptures imbued with symbolism at the exhibition Despite the Unheroic Times (Zagreb, 1910).
We recognise the central motif of the drawing, a large torso, as the source for the marble torso of Banović Strahinja, later executed in sculptural form. In more recent interpretations of this segment of Meštrović’s oeuvre, which touch upon the concept of corporeality and eroticism in his works, Prančević (2016: 17) cites this drawing as an example of Meštrović’s strategy of voluntary “censorship”:
„With his deliberate mutilation, Meštrović reduces the body to the status of idol as representation of heroic strength and its inherent virility. Still, this visual representation of the male ideal wants a depiction of the phallus, the size of which might be disputable. By making a fetish of the musculature the artist tells of the power of ancient times and their characteristic visual representations and canons, but beefs up the erotic charge with the absence of the full depiction of the male libidinous field.“
Lovers with Winged Serpent
Vienna, 1905
black pastel and India ink on paper
24.7 x 29.4 cm
inv. no. GMS-229
The sensuality of the male and female body, clasped in a loving embrace, is emphasised by the skin’s whiteness and soft modelling – hatching, highlighting the curves of the nude bodies. The motif of a winged serpent and spatial darkness, achieved with thick layers of pastel, contribute to the ominous atmosphere of the scene.
Interpreting part of Meštrović’s works as illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Čerina (2004: 9) connects this drawing with Inferno Canto V, which, among other things, mentions the illicit lovers Paolo and Francesca: “Young Meštrović emphasises this scene of the rapturous embrace of lovers with a symbolic motif of the bed, that is, the nest with the wings of a dove that transforms into a serpent – a biblical temptress and a symbol of the original sin.”
It is interesting, however, that this drawing can also be interpreted as Meštrović’s personal reflection on his current circumstances. Prančević (2017: 49) thus recognises in the lovers Ivan and Ruža Klein, who is to be his wife in the future: “lying naked and embracing in the presence of the winged snake, symbol that unites the values of good and evil fate. (…) the young couple was still living in unmarried union, which society condemned at the time.”
Bibl.: ČERINA 2004: 36, kat. br. 19. KEČKEMET 1988: 248. KRAŠEVAC 2017: 184. PRANČEVIĆ 2008 a: kat. br. 3. PRANČEVIĆ 2016: 5-7. PRANČEVIĆ 2017: 49-50.
Izl.: Rovinj 2002. Split 2004. Zagreb 2004 a. Slavonski Brod 2008. Zagreb 2016. Zagreb 2017. Ljubljana 2018.
Entering the Gates of Hell
Vienna, 1905
black pastel and India ink on paper
38.8 x 32 cm
inv. no. GMS-237
Nude human bodies are clustered together inside an arched portico. The kneeling position of human figures, their painful facial expressions and the narrowness of the entrance space with an overhanging dark vault create an anxious atmosphere. The scene is recognised as an illustration of Canto III from Dante’s Inferno (Čerina 2004: 43) that describes Limbo, where “loud sighs, complaints, and ululations. Resounded through the air without a star.”
Four Poets
Vienna, 1905 – 1906
India ink, black and white pastel on paper
31.8 x 26.5 cm
inv. no. GMS-247a
A drawing depicting four nude male bodies gathered around a source of light, is recognised as an illustration of verses from Dante’s Inferno, Canto IV (verses 85 – 88). Four men thus become four poets – “four great shadows, with faces that were neither sad nor happy” – Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan, ancient poets whom Dante meets in Limbo. This is where many ancient or pre-Christian thinkers and poets, who were unable to know God, are found.
Densely applied lines cover the entire surface of the paper, creating a sombre atmosphere, while the central source of light illuminates only faces and hands. The luminescence on certain parts of the body is further emphasised with the application of white pastel.
A Throng of Lovers
Vienna, 1905
pencil on paper
21.9 x 25.2 cm
inv. no. GMS-244a
A mass of entangled male and female bodies is suspended in the act of kissing, touching or embracing. The entire scene is animated by arm and leg movements and swinging of the heads. This dynamic series of interacting male-female pairs is reminiscent of the figurative frieze that Meštrović used to decorate the Vase, which he modelled in his Vienna studio in 1905. It is a reinterpretation of the type of Ancient Greek vase, its neck decorated with tightly packed human bodies. Four couples indulge in playful physical touching, and it is assumed that this drawing is a preliminary study for the above-mentioned relief frieze, which Meštrović will also elaborate in life size, as part of the Well of Life (1905) public monument in Zagreb.
Čerina (2004: 49), however, recognises in this drawing an illustration of illicit lovers from Dante’s Inferno, Canto V, “precisely because of the description of a long procession of shadows, their lives taken because of their love, as they are carried gently by the wind.”
In the Abyss
(Vanni Fucci)
Vienna, 1905
India ink, black and white pastel on paper
47 x 31.6 cm
inv. no. GMS-252a
The scene is recognised as an illustration of Inferno, Cantos XXIV and XXV, in which Vanni Fucci stands out among the punished thieves. The dark ambient is illuminated by lightning (God’s warning), which further highlights the main character, as well as his eerie surroundings – the ground littered with skulls and skeletons on which serpents crawl. Vanni’s punishment manifests itself in constant repetition: after being bitten by a snake, he is reduced to ashes from which he is re-created to suffer endless punishment.
In addition, as Prančević (2003: 251) notes, there is a noticeable absence of the two guides through hell, Dante and Virgil, in all of Meštrović’s illustrations of Inferno, by which the draughtsman is casting us in the role of direct observers, enhancing the experience of the fantastic scenes he so vividly recreated.
Punished Thief
(Study for Vanni Fucci)
Vienna, 1905
black pastel on paper
29.4 x 21.1 cm
inv. no. GMS-228
A nude man in a violent struggle with a serpent is a study for the previously described punished thief – Vanni Fucci. Besides, it is precisely in this drawing that Čerina (2004: 39) recognises Dante’s verses from Canto XXIV, describing the punishment meted out to the thieves in the seventh ditch of the Eighth circle of hell (91-97):
“Naked, terrified people ran in the midst of that cruel and terrible crowd, without hope of finding refuge or a (stone) heliotrope. Serpents bound their hands from behind, stabbing their kidneys with its tail and head, while being tied in a knot in the front.”
Carrying the Wounded
Vienna, 1905
India ink on paper
32.7 x 20.2 cm
inv. no. GMS-246b
A considerable number of Meštrović’s early symbolist drawings is devoted to the motif of death, such as, for example, the drawings The Point of No Return (cat. no. 21), Lamentation of the Dead (cat. no. 22) and Women at the Cemetery (cat. no. 20). In contrast to the aforementioned drawings with a distinct pictorial quality, complete composition and a somewhat dark atmosphere, in this drawing, the graphic expression prevails with the use of India ink and hatching with small lines. The composition is interrupted on the left side, so the drawing is perhaps a study for a more complex representation.
Woman at the Cemetery
(Cemetery of the Heretics)
Vienna, 1906
India ink and pastel on paper
30.5 x 47.8 cm
inv. no. GMS-233
The theme of death and the transience of life is represented in several of Meštrović’s early symbolist drawings: The Point of No Return (cat. no. 21), Women at the Cemetery (cat. no. 20) and Lamentation of the Dead (cat. no. 22). Prančević connects this drawing to a well-known literary source (Meštrović Gallery 2018: 186-187):
„Most of Meštrović’s extant drawings from the Vienna period were under direct literary influences, of either seminal literary works or oral literature. Anthropomorphic rocks in this drawing can be read as ‘petrified wedding guests’, a phenomenon that spurred the imagination of the local population, and which August Šenoa transcribed from tradition into written form.“
As Kečkemet (1988: 246) observes, with their composition and visual rendering, the drawings are characteristic of the period referred to as the fin de siècle, and the “typical symbolist repertoire” includes cemeteries, cypresses or old ruins. The silhouettes of the petrified wedding guests, that is, the female silhouette cloaked in white in the drawing Women at the Cemetery, surrounded by the shadowy cypress canopies, achieve the same dark and melancholy atmosphere that can be experienced observing the allegorical painting Isle of the Dead (1883), a masterpiece of the Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin.
The Point of No Return
Vienna, 1906
black pastel and India ink on paper
38.8 x 49.3 cm
inv. no. GMS-254a
The motif of death is present in several of Meštrović’s early drawings, in line with the frequent depictions of universal themes within the symbolist period. Kečkemet (1988: 246) provided an interpretive description:
“Ruins of an old church (resembling an early Christian Salona) with a seated male nude seen from behind and leaning against a stone in the foreground, while in the background five shrouded skeletons carry the body of a dead girl or a woman. Everything is rendered in a distinct painterly manner, in soft pastel, with shading and tonal transitions.”
The Meštrović Gallery collection holds another drawing with the same scene (inv. no. GMS-231). It is executed on a red background with less intense shading, and pronounced fine lines drawn in India ink. It is interpreted within the framework of symbolist themes that the sculptor was preoccupied with during his stay in Vienna: meditation on transience and the cyclic changes of life and death (Prančević 2008 a: 5).
It was Irena Kraševac (2017: 184), however, who provided a more precise identification, recognising in this drawing an illustration of the City of Dis, from Canto VIII of Dante’s Inferno. The presumed link with the said motif can be found in several details: a water surface denoted by small waves in the lower right corner (the River Styx mourning the banks of the city), scattered open graves (burning graves of the heathens) and the walls of the underground city (“wall of souls”).
Lamentation of the Dead
Vienna, c. 1906
black pastel and India ink on paper
28 x 36.5 cm
inv. no. GMS-221
Another in a series of early symbolist drawings dedicated to the motif of death, displaying exceptional pictorial quality. The influence of Gustav Klimt’s large-scale painting compositions is recognised in the method of composition: the grouping of human bodies in a frieze, the formation of a larger indefinite floating mass. And yet, while the Viennese painter emphasises flatness, Meštrović achieves the illusion of space with the sequence of planes and the penetration of light.
We enter the “space” of the drawing through a darkly shaded parapet, with a dead male body exposed on the threshold. A nude and obliquely laid body ushers us to the background, dominated by a long frieze of male and female figures mourning the dead. Special attention is paid to individual gestures and facial expressions in the act of mourning.
Bibl.: KEČKEMET 1988: 246.
Izl.: Zagreb 1983. – 1984.
Prince Marko at the Feast
probably Vienna, 1906
black pastel and India ink on paper
30.5 x 47.8 cm
inv. no. GMS-234
The inspiration with epic folk poetry will reach its peak in the sculptural cycle dedicated to the Battle of Kosovo that Meštrović executed in 1908 – 1909, and it can be traced in his works since the end of his studies in Vienna (1906). This is confirmed by several drawings that reveal his close study of epic folk poetry, and can be interpreted as illustrations of the epic narrative: Building of Skadar (cat. no. 24), Scene with the Fairy Ravijojla (GMS-250b) and Prince Marko at the Feast. The latter drawing is probably a depiction of the poem Infidelity of Prince Marko’s Bride, which tells of the cunning and ruthlessness of this mythical folk hero.
Meštrović translated the story into a drawing using several narrative elements: an elegant dinner with assembled guests, Marko’s bride trying to prevent the fatal act, and Prince Marko with his sabre raised as he is about to sever the head of Duka Senković, his bride’s lover. Marko’s rage and cruelty are clearly expressed in his sharp gaze and frowning forehead. We can recognise the same physiognomy in later sculptures: Prince Marko on His Horse Šarac and studies Head of Prince Marko. The distinct “spatiality” of the drawing, as well as its dramatic atmosphere, are achieved with the effects of light. The dark-haired men in the shadows of the foreground, together with the dense dark background, are juxtaposed against the illuminated central motif of Marko’s bride and the grey heads of other guests at the table.
Study for Building of Skadar
probably Vienna, 1906
black pastel and India ink on paper
30.5 x 40.3 cm
inv. no. GMS-236
The scene of building the fortress in the medieval city of Skadar refers to the epic folk poem Building of Skadar, which is based on the motif of sacrifice. In line with the belief that successful construction is possible only with the offering of a human sacrifice, a young woman, Gojkovica, was bricked into the fortress. At the behest of the young mother, openings were left for her breasts and eyes so that she could breastfeed and see her child. The sorrow, impuissance and immeasurable pain of a mother that the poem describes are conveyed here through the male characters, who are covering their faces to hide their own despair.
Meštrović elaborated the same motif in another drawing, which, like the aforementioned, can be considered a study for the stone relief Building of Skadar . The relief form, often used in Secession art, is especially well suited for “narrative art” and the conveyance of a narrative scene within a given frame (Kraševac 2002: 143). In addition, it is possible to read, in his selection of motifs from folk legends, the political framework of the contemporary aspirations for unification of the South Slavs, which “Meštrović uses to send a message that only togetherness, but also personal sacrifice for the common good (related to the legend) can build an edifice of unity” (Srhoj 2014: 383).
Lit.: KRAŠEVAC 2002: 143. SRHOJ 2014: 383.
Bibl.: KEČKEMET 1988: 247.
Seated Female Nude
(Study for the Widow)
Paris, 1908
pencil on paper
31.1 x 24.3 cm
inv. no. GMS-332
In the period from 1908 – 1912, Meštrović created fifty-odd sculptures of supernatural size for the never-completed so-called Kosovo Cycle, which represents folk and mythical heroes, and their grieving widows. Meštrović found inspiration for his sculptural cycle in the Battle of Kosovo of 1389, a mythical-historical event celebrated in verse in folk legends. Preoccupied with the national question and the idea of unification of the South Slavs, the sculptor used his work to promote not only the creation of national art but also the political struggle for liberation from foreign rule – then Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
A female nude sitting on a cube (resembling a stone pedestal), with her left arm “severed”, head lowered and a mournful gaze, fits Meštrović’s vision of widows that formed part of the Kosovo Fragments. Its composition can be linked with the executed sculptural work Small Widow I, with a very similar position of the body, but a completely different hair stylisation.
The back of the drawing contains a study of the floor plan of the Vidovdan Temple, executed in a sketchy manner, with soft pencil strokes. This is probably one of the first studies for this never-realised architectural project, which facilitates the dating of the architectural drawings of the Vidovdan Temple (cat. no. 129, 130) to the period from 1908 - 1912. Meštrović created the wooden model of the Vidovdan Temple in 1912.
Izl.: Zagreb 1983. – 1984.
Study for Two Widows I
Paris, 1908 – 1909
India ink on paper
31 x 23.5 cm
inv. no. GMS-327a
In the period from 1908 – 1912, Meštrović created fifty-odd sculptures of supernatural size for the never-completed so-called Kosovo Cycle, which represents folk and mythical heroes, and their grieving widows. Meštrović found inspiration for his sculptural cycle in the Battle of Kosovo of 1389, a mythical-historical event celebrated in verse in folk legends. Preoccupied with the national question and the idea of unification of the South Slavs, the sculptor used his work to promote not only the creation of national art but also the political struggle for liberation from foreign rule – then Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
Although the focus in the female figures is on the melancholy expression and pronounced pain, the monumental sculptures are characterised by inordinate strength and swelling plasticity. Corporeality and latent eroticism are particularly prominent in the central scene – a study for the sculptural group called Two Widows.
As Prančević (2016: 12) observes, if we consider the scene of the two women embracing purely formally, without knowing the epic narrative, then we can easily interpret it as a manifestation of “lesbian affection”. And indeed, this controversial sculptural group by Meštrović provoked numerous negative comments from contemporary critics, who considered them “inappropriate because of their erotic content”1, “unattractive and vulgar”2.
1 An opinion expressed by the English painter John Lavery in a letter to Cecil Harcourt Smith, then director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, during the preparations for Meštrović’s solo exhibition in 1915. Published in: Turner-Vučetić & Turner (2016.) 'Meštrović and the Victoria and Albert Museum', in: Sculpture Journal, Vol. 25.2, p. 165.
2 BECKWITH, Carol (1911.) 'Some Further Notes on the Great Exposition at Rome', in: New York Daily Tribune, May 28, 1911, p. 7.
Study for the Widow and Child
Paris, 1909
charcoal and India ink on paper
29.8 x 24 cm
inv. no. GMS-227
In the period from 1908 – 1912, Meštrović created fifty-odd sculptures of supernatural size for the never-completed so-called Kosovo Cycle, which represents folk and mythical heroes, and their grieving widows. Meštrović found inspiration for his sculptural cycle in the Battle of Kosovo of 1389, a mythical-historical event celebrated in verse in folk legends. Preoccupied with the national question and the idea of unification of the South Slavs, the sculptor used his work to promote not only the creation of national art but also the political struggle for liberation from foreign rule – then Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
The composition of the drawing is directly related to the sculpture Widow and Child, created in Paris in 1909.
In a study of the motherhood theme in Meštrović’s oeuvre, Čerina (2013: 50) describes the abandoned women, mothers and widows devastated by the consequences of the war that the sculptor depicts as part of his Kosovo Cycle: “Meštrović juxtaposes the corpulent bodies of seated women, emphatic symbols of fertility, charged with energy and convulsed in a moment of pain, against the compositional solutions of a mother holding a child in her lap, with expressive energy directed towards the child.”
