Ivan Ružić's Donation of Paintings to the Strossmayer Gallery

Abstract

The paper presents the donation of thirty works of art by Rijeka lawyer and politician Ivan Ružić to the Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters at the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (YASA, now Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, CASA) in 1892. Drawing on archival sources and historiographical literature, the paper compiles data on the donor’s life, as well as the circumstances and reasons for the donation. The acquisition of the donated works is examined within the complex context of the Roman art market at the end of the 19th century. For a few selected paintings from the donation, new interpretations are provided based on stylistic analysis, revised iconographic interpretations, and discovered graphic models.

Keywords

• Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters CASA
• Ivan Ružić
• art market in Rome at the end of the 19th century
• copies, graphic models
• Raffaello Vanni