Their Royal Highnesses Princes Peter and Alexander hosted the exhibition opening “Beauty and Nobility“- “Women portraits in the Dedinje Royal Palaces Collection“ that was realized in cooperation with The Ministry of Culture and information as well as help of the Russian Cultural Centre in Serbia.
Their Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine were not able to attend since they are in London for the memorial service of Princess Margarita of Baden formerly married to Prince Tomislav. H.E. Mr. Bratislav Petkovic, Minister of Culture and Information of Serbia officially opened the exhibition. A speech was also delivered by Mr. Dragomir Acovic, member of the Privy Council.
The opening was attended by His Grace Bishop Joanikije of Budimlje and Niksic, H.E. Mr. Majid Hamlaoui, Ambassador of Tunisia, H.E. Mrs. Mercedes Martinez Valdes, Ambassador of Cuba, H.E. Mr. Daniel Banu, Ambassador of Romania, H.E. Mr. Franc But, Ambassador of Slovenia, H.E. Mr. Viktor Nedopas, Ambassador of Ukraine, H.E. Mr. Zaw Tun, Ambassador of Myanmar, other members of the diplomatic corps, and many other distinguished guests from Serbian culture institutions.
The authors of the exhibition and catalog are Professor Jelena Todorovic, Mrs. Biljana Crvenkovic and Ms. Viktorija Kamilic. The exhibition will present twelve female portraits from The Royal Art Collection. Painted in the period 16th – 20th century, these portraits are significant pieces of art made by artists, portrait painters and their workshops from our country and abroad, such as Bernardo Licnio, Alexander Roslin, Franz Xavier Winterhalter, Marko Celebonovic, Jovan Isajlovic, Pedja Milosavljevic and others. Due to different social and historical circumstances that characterized the time of their creation, these portraits are divided into two groups. On one hand we have portraits of noble women from the Renaissance to Interwar period, and on the other the representation of women in the multitude of their different roles from the late 19th century to modern times. Regardless of the difference of styles and forms in which the portraits are painted, together they testify in the technical sense of the development of portrait painting, and talk about identity and representation of women in their different social roles in which artists captured their existence.
The exhibition will be open for visitors until February 6th. Tours of the exhibition will be at 12pm and 2pm on week days and at 1 pm on Saturdays. It is necessary to make a reservation at least one day in advance by calling 011 / 306-4075.