Ferdo Quiquerez | |
|---|---|
 Self portrait, 1879 | |
| Born | Ferdinand Quiquerez 17 March 1845 |
| Died | 12 January 1893 (aged 47) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | Arrival of the Croats at Sea Antemurale Christianitatis |
Ferdinand (Ferdo) von Quiquerez, also called Ferdo Kikerec (17 March 1845, Budapest – 12 January 1893, Zagreb) was a Croatian painter of French ancestry.[1] Among his most popular history paintings are the Arrival of the Croats at Sea (1870), Kosovo Girl (1879), and Antemurale Christianitatis (1892).[2]
Ferdinand Peter von Quiquerez was born in Budapest in 1845.[3] His father Ferdinand von Quiquerez was an Austrian military doctor of French origin, while his mother Maria was from a German-speaking family in Slovenia.[4] After completing his education in Zagreb, he spent a year in the Austrian military school before returning to Zagreb for university. He originally intended to pursue a career in law, but began to study painting with József Ferenc Mücke (1819-1883), who soon redirected his interests. In 1870, a scholarship enabled him to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich where he studied under Johann Leonhard Raab and Karl von Piloty.[5] While in Munich, he met fellow Croatian painter Izidor Kršnjavi, who encouraged him to continue studying ancient art rather than go to Paris, as Quiquerez wanted to do.[5] Poor health, however, led him to transfer to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia where he continued his studies with Pompeo Marino Molmenti.[6] His patriotic inclinations led him to specialize in historical and folkloric works.[6] He found himself unhappy in Venice, and soon embarked on traveling through Italy with Kršnjavi, staying in places such as Florence, Rome, Naples, and Pompeii.[7][8]
In 1875, Quiquerez went to Dalmatia, where he spent some time before traveling to Montenegro, where he worked for Prince Nicholas during the campaign against the Ottomans.[6][7] He painted a portrait of the famed Montenegrin warrior Novica Cerović, who had killed Ottoman Bosnian general Smail Agha Čengić decades earlier. Upon his return to Zagreb in 1876, he worked as a drawing teacher in a secondary school, where one of his students was Croatian painter Oton Iveković.[9]
During the Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 and 1879, Quiquerez composed several sketches and drawings of Austro-Hungarian troops led by general Josip Filipović entering Bosanski Brod.[10] In Marija Bistrica, Quiqerez painted 22 frescoes along the arcades of the newly built church which depicted miracles granted by the Blessed Virgin Mary.[11] He also composed drawings of the former monastery in Lepoglava before the great earthquake of 1880 caused significant damage.[12]
In 1883 he married Gizela Hadrović (1863-1914) and six years later they had a son Branimir, who would eventually become a professor in Slavonski Brod.[13] Branimir's son Velibor Kikerec (1925-2006) would serve as a Partisan in World War II and then assistant Minister of Defense during the Croatian War of Independence.[14][15]
His last years were marked by ill health, according to longtime friend Izidor Kršnjavi, who visited him two days before his death.[16] Quiquerez died in Zagreb in 1893, and is buried in Mirogoj Cemetery.[17][18]
