Hristofor Zhefarovich

right|thumb|250px|Dedication of "Stemmatographia" from Pavel Nenadović to Hristofor Zhefarovich:">

"To the well reputable gentleman Hristofor Zhefarovich, a nation-wide icon-painter, zealot of Bulgarian fatherland, lover of Illyrian tsardom"

Hristofor Zhefarovich (original Cyrillic: Христофоръ Жефаровичъ; Bulgarian: Христофор Жефарович, "Hristofor Zhefarovich"; Macedonian: Христофор Жефаровиќ, "Hristofor Žefarović"; Serbian: Христофор Жефаровић, "Hristofor Žefarović") was an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of Pan-Slavism.

Biography

Born in the end of the 17th century, Zhefarovich descended from a priestly family from Dojran in Ottoman Empire, (present-day Republic of Macedonia) and became a monk himself. As a highly-educated and well-learned vagrant monk he painted and traded with books, icons and church plate. He spent some time in the St Naum Monastery in Ohrid. His name was first mentioned in Belgrade in 1734, when he was well-known as a good painter. His first well-preserved work are the frescoes in the churches of the Bođani Monastery in Bačka (part of Vojvodina) from 1737 and the Šikloš Monastery from 1739. He was exclusively engaged in copper engraving and book illustration after 1740.

Zhefarovich made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem through Thessaloniki and Jaffa and later established himself in the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow, where he died on 18 September 1753. Zhefrovich was the author of two religious works, an instruction to newly-appointed priests (Поучение святителское к новопоставленному йерею, "Pouchenie svyatitelskoe k novopostavlennomu yereyu") from 1742 and a description of Jerusalem from 1748 (Описание светаго божия града Йерусалима, "Opisanie svetago bozhiya grada Yerusalima"). His name is also associated with two textbooks — a primer and a grammar book, as well as numerous copper gravures of renowned personalities from Vojvodina.

"Stemmatographia"

Zhefarovich's work of greatest importance for the South Slavic Revival was his "Stemmatographia" published in Vienna in 1741. During its composition he used the "Stemmatographia" of Croatian Pavao Ritter Vitezović of 1701, who on his part used "Kingdom of the Slavs" of Mauro Orbini of 1601. "Stemmatographia" was illustrated by Zhefarovich with copper engravings and black and white drawings. It contains 20 images of Bulgarian and Serbian rulers and saints, as well as 56 coats of arms of Slavic and other Balkan countries with descriptive quatrains under them, regarded as the first example of modern secular Bulgarian and Serbian poetry. "Stemmatographia" had a crucial influence on the Bulgarian and Serbian Revival and made a great impact on the entire Bulgarian heraldry of the 19th century, when it became most influential among all generations of Bulgarian enlighteners and revolutionaries during the period of national awakening of Bulgaria and shaped the idea for a modern Bulgarian national symbol.

The pattern of Bulgarian coat of arms of "Stemmatographia" was used as the state symbol of the royal Bulgarian administration in 1878, but set in an ermine mantle and with a prince's crown above it. This coat of arms continued to be used on the state seal and the seals of state institutions well after an official one (also influenced by the one in "Stemmatographia") was introduced by the National Assembly. The coat of arms of the short-lived Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia was also created after the coat of arms of Constantinople (called "coat of arms of Romania") in Zhefarovich's work.

Gallery

Nationality and ethnicity

Hristofor Zhefarovich worked for the spiritual resurgence of the Bulgarian and Serbian people, as he considered them to be one and the same "Illyrian" (South Slavic) people. Zhefarovich described himself as a "zealot of the Bulgarian homeland" ("ревнитель отечества болгарскаго", "revnitel' otechestva bolgarskoto"), but also discussed "our Serbian motherland" ("отечество сербско наше", "otechestvo serbsko nashe") and signed as a "universal painter of Illyria and Raška" ("иллирïко рассïанскïи общïй зографъ", "illiïko rassïanskïy obshtïy zografa"). In his testament, he explicitly noted that his relatives were "of Bulgarian nationality" ("булгарской нации", "bulgarskoy natsii") and from Dojran.

The ethnicity of Zhefarovich has been the subject of some dispute between the Bulgarian and Serbian historiography (ultimately based on whether he originated from the "eastern" South Slavs, which include today's Bulgarian nation, or the "western" South Slavs, which include the modern Serbian nation). More recently, a newly-emerged argument linking him to ethnic Macedonians also surfaced.

External links

* [http://heraldika-bg.org/statii.htm On-line version of The Stematographia]
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