Djura Jaksic

Born July 27 (according to some sources, Aug. 8), 1832, in Srpska Crnja, Banat; died Nov. 16, 1878, in Belgrade. Serbian poet and artist.

Jakšić fought in the Revolution of 1848–49 and the patriotic Omladina movement in the 1860’s and 1870’s. His works first appeared in print in 1853. A representative of Serbian romanticism, he wrote patriotic verses and narrative poems closely linked with folk epics. He was also the author of the dramas in verse The Resettlement of the Serbs (1863), Elizabeth, Princess of Montenegro (1868), and Stanoje Glavas (1878). He was one of the first Serbian poets to treat the theme of social oppression.

Jakšić studied painting in the studio of K. Danil in Veliki Bečerek in 1850. He also attended the Academy of Arts in Vienna in 1852 and from 1861 to 1862. His paintings depict scenes from Serbian history and the national liberation struggle, for example, The Death of Karageorge (1860’s) and On Guard (1870’s), both of which are housed in the National Museum in Belgrade. The works are notable for their dramatic tension and contrasts of light and shade. Jakšić also painted a number of lifelike portraits distinguished for their strict painterly style, for example, Portrait of Živka Protić (National Museum, Belgrade).