On the occasion of marking 2022 as the 100th anniversary of the death of Vlaho Bukovac, on Thursday, September 15 the museum curator Helena Puhara held a thematic lecture titled All Bukovac's meetings with Emperor Franz Joseph I.
First, but not last meeting between Bukovac and Emperor Franz Joseph I occurred in October 1895 in Zagreb. The emperor visited Zagreb upon the opening ceremony of the cultural and educational institutions built in the city during the last decade of the 19th century.
The following year, Bukovac will portray the emperor in Vienna. During that time, he painted a study of the head and several studies of the imperial uniform. When he returned to Zagreb, he painted two official portraits in life-size. For the Croatian Parliament, he painted the emperor in a general’s uniform. That portrait is now kept in the Croatian History Museum in Zagreb. He also painted Franz Joseph I in imperial regalia, but this one was meant for Dalmatian Parliament, today at the National Museum in Zadar. Governor David commissioned the portrait. The copy of this portrait, Bukovac donated to the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Two small sketches of these portraits are preserved in the Bukovac House. A figure of the emperor in uniform and another in imperial regalia.
