Male Costume of Serbia and Montenegro on the Frontispieces of 19th Century Books (From the Slavic Literature Fund of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library)

Abstract

The article analyzes eight frontispiece portraits of Serbian and Montenegrin statesmen from the 12–19th century as well as one collective ethnographic image of an inhabitant of the Bay of Kotor. These consist of prints found in seventeen Serbian and Montenegrin 19th century publications which were found in the Slavic Literature Fund of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg). The portraits are considered as works of book graphics, as historical and ethnographic sources. They were compared with other pictorial sources — originals of portraits, images of genuine clothing and jewelry, as well as ethnographic materials. There are detailed descriptions of the costumes depicted in the portraits, the names and characteristics of the clothes, hats and decorations. As a result of the comparison, it was found that some engravings are fictitious images, while others, made from pictorial lifetime originals, can serve as important material for the reconstruction of Serbian and Montenegrin appearance and costume, including specific historical figures. An attempt was made to reveal the relationship of the costume of the ruler at the end of the 18th — first half of the 19th century both with the fashion trends of the era, and with his national identity and political views. These aspects manifested themselves with particular vividness in the portraits of Milos Obrenovich, Karageorgy, Vladyka Daniel and Peter Petrovich Njegos. The analysis of portraits in chronological order made it possible to touch upon the theme of Serbian and Montenegrin costume history, which has been insufficiently studied in the Russian press.