Dispossessing the Copies of the Past: the journey of a bronze cast collection from the private collector to Academy of the Fine Arts

Collecting high quality copies of renowned works of art, particularly sculptures, has had a considerably long tradition that could be traced back to classical antiquity. High quality marble copies of bronze Greek originals were created in ancient Rome to adorn public and private spaces. In a curious, rather ironic twist of fate, those highly skilled copies took on in the Early Modern period not only the role of the originals, but acquired the aura of true canons of the classical art. 

All these issues would be addressed in our paper, with the main focus on the collection of bronze casts of famous classical and Renaissance sculptures that presently form an important part of the collection of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. Based upon a meticulous provenance research, our scholarly team managed to unravel the entire history of this collection, from their commission in 1920s until its existence in the faculty collections.

Initially, 21 bronze casts were commissioned by a notable banker and economist Vojislav Veljkovic in 1929 from one of the leading foundries in Paris, Susse Freres, primarily destined to become the nucleus of the first private museum in Belgrade, to serve the public good and educate the nation. However, due to the premature death of their collector they remained a part of family collections until the end of the WWII. In 1948/9 they were acquired by the State of Yugoslavia and 16 of them were subsequently bequeathed to the (then) Academy of the Fine Arts as teaching tools. From that moment on, they embarked upon a novel chapter in their history, so akin to the original desire of their collector, where their role in inspiring and teaching the young generations has continued to this very day. 

Our story of collecting copies is not important only for the history of collecting, but proves that categories of the copy and the original could be remarkably fluid. Ours is a tale of possession and dispossession, of changes of ownership and function, and of a destiny curiously fulfilled. 

Professor Igor Borozan is a full professor at the Department for History of Art at the Faculty of Philosophy and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade. The focus of his research interest is the early modern art with the special emphasis on the art from the late 18th until the beginning of the 20th century. He is particularly interested in the phenomena of the memorial culture, of political iconography, the art of Symbolism, the representation of power and rule, as well as in the culture of memory. He is the member of the several editorial boards of the national and international journals. He received the highest scholarly and museum awards in the Republic of Serbia. He is the member of the boards of trustees of some of the leading museum institutions in the Republic of Serbia. Professor Borozan is the author of a number of national and international exhibitions. He took part in the several dozens of national and international conferences, and was a lead in a number of national scholarly scientific projects. 

Professor Aleksandra Kučeković is working as a Full Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. Since 2022, she also has the role of the Vice-Dean for teaching of FFA. In 1997 she graduated at the department of Art History Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, the same department where she did her MA (2005) and PhD (2012). Her scholarly interests are focused on the history of the Orthodox Baroque heritage, particularly religious art on the territory of Slavonija and Croatia in 18th c.  She published widely upon these topics, in some of the leading local and international journals. Prof. Kučeković took part in a considerable number of national and international conferences. She is a member of the Board of the Department for Fine Arts of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad and is a project lead for Research of the Serbian Religious Painting in Croatia from 18th to 20th century (2020-2024) as well as Bronzes from Veljković familly collection in the Collection of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade (2023). Her key publications could be accessed on https://artsinbelgrade.academia.edu/AleksandraKucekovic 
https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/search#?page=1&pagesize=10&fr=bib_roles_pers_aut_Ku%C4%8Dekovi%C4%87 

Professor Jelena Todorović received her BA in the History of Art at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. She completed her master’s (1998) and PhD (2004) at University College London. Since 2005, she began teaching at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where she currently works as a Full Professor. Since 2006, she has been the head of a project that researches the State Art Collection in Belgrade, for which she received the European Union Award for cultural heritage in 2018 (Europa Nostra). She has published several books and articles on the issues of time and space in the age of the Baroque, as well as the history of collecting and culture of the city of Trieste in 18th and 19th c. Her latest book, The Concept of Fluidity in the Baroque Age: Liquid Mirrors was published in UK in 2023. She is the member of the board of the National Museum of Serbia since 2019 and of a scientific board of the Gallery of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad since 2022.