Aksentije Marodić (Subotica, 1838 – Novi Sad, 1909) was the first academic painter of Subotica and a representative of academicism and romanticism in Serbian painting in the second half of the 19th century. It is recorded that he was born from father Maksim, a tailor and mother Ljubica. His first instruction about painting were acquired as an apprentice of the painter and craftsman Petar Pilić in Senta between 1851 and 1855, then from the painter Nikola Aleksić in Karlovo (now Novo Miloševo) in 1855. He received several orders from citizens of Subotica. He restored the icon Coronation of the Virgin in the chapel of Bunarić in 1857. After 1858, he lived in Bečej: his portraits made in Bečej and his icons in the chapel of Baroness Jović (1861) are quite important. With the help of some benefactors from Subotica and Bečej as well as the government of Subotica, he could study painting at the Academy in Vienna until 1866. After living in Italy, he published travelogues in the magazines Zastava and Javor (1874). His paintings were particularly valued by J. J. Strossmayer (1874). After he had been elected for a member of the literary department of Serbian Matica, he portrayed the benefactors of the Matica (1883). He lived in Kovilj until 1903, when he moved to Novi Sad. His biggest project was the work on the iconostasis in Kovilj. He was buried in the Dormition cemetery of Novi Sad. His birth house is a protected cultural monument of great importance. A large number of his works is in the Gallery of the Serbian Matica, of which thirty-two works come from Dr Jovan Milekić’s Bačka Gallery in Subotica.
(Olga K. Ninkov)
Bibliography:
Vojnić Hajduk, Vesna (1992): Slikar Aksentije Marodić. NIP „Subotičke novine“, Subotica
Electronic document:
Rodna kuća Aksentija Marodića / Aksentije Marodić szülőháza.
http://rs.heritage-su.org.rs/