oil on canvas mounted on cardboard, 33 x 25.5 cm, signed with initials, bottom left, in red, "CM"

Research information

The work was part of the "Exhibition of Celestin Medović", held at the King Peter I The Great Liberator Art House in Zagreb from April 2 to 30, 1939, and is mentioned on page 61 under catalogue number 18. The work is inventoried and listed in the catalogue "Mato Celestin Medović", authored by Vera Kružić Uchytil, Zagreb, 1978, under the title "Study for Bacchanal IV" on page 90. The work was part of the exhibition "Mato Celestin Medović - retrospective", held at the Klovićevi dvori Gallery in Zagreb (November 1, 2011 - February 12, 2012), and is reproduced and mentioned in the exhibition catalog under the title "Study for Bacchanal IV", cat. no. 16, p. 224. The work was also exhibited as part of the "Mato Celestin Medović - retrospective" exhibition at the Dubrovnik Art Gallery (March 1, 2012 - May 15, 2012). The painting comes with a silver honorary medal that Medović received as an award for his graduation work, the masterpiece "Bacchanal", awarded at the end of his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (Akademie der Bildenden Künste München) in 1893. The work was created in Munich and is one of five known studies that Medović painted in preparation for his monumental, final composition "Bacchanal".

PROVENANCE

Historical collection of Julije Đula Medović (b. 1890 - ?), nephew of Mat Celestin Medović; Inherited, heirs of the family.

Mato Celestin Medović (1857 - 1920) is counted among the most important protagonists of Croatian modern art. Initially a Franciscan, his immense painting urge prompted him to thorough art education in the great European cultural capitals, so he studied in Rome and Florence before enrolling in 1888 at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In this decisive Munich phase, under the mentorship of historical painting master Alexander von Wagner, Medović accepted the striking academic realism characterized by dramatic mastery of light, structural precision, and dense tonal arrangements. The unquestionable climax of this educational chapter was his monumental canvas Bacchanal (1893), an ambitious multi-figure historical composition depicting a chaotic pagan Roman feast. Medović dedicated three intensive years of work to this unique masterpiece (1890 - 1893), which was a painstaking creative process that ultimately earned him the desired silver graduation medal from the Academy and prompted his permanent transition from monastic life to a professional artistic career. Adhering strictly to the classic traditions of European academicism, a project of such great proportions as the Bacchanal demanded from the painter the production of a series of preparatory works in order to determine the position, lighting, and anatomy of individual figures directly from live models. Among the very rare surviving preparatory works from this monumental endeavor is the Study for "Bacchanal" IV, an intimate oil study on canvas glued to card. This privately owned sketch isolates a female model depicted from the back with a wreath in dark hair. While the final finished canvas - today a treasure of the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb - is distinctly stylized and theatrical, this magnificent study preserves the raw, vibrant spontaneity of Medović's original brushstroke and his first encounter with a live model.

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