Anastas Jovanović: the First Serbian Photographer | Old Belgrade Stories

"What a pity, what a pity! Everything was so interesting, I was so interested in it, and now it's all gone," said Anastas Jovanović, the first Serbian photographer and lithographer, to his children gathered around his sickbed on November 1, 1899. The photographs, lithographs, artworks, and writings, among the oldest in the world, were published by his daughter Katarina shortly after his death.

Anastas Jovanović's life journey began in 1817 in Vratsa, present-day Bulgaria. After his father's death, young Anastas went to Belgrade to live with his uncle, who was a tailor at the court of Prince Miloš Obrenović. Upon his uncle's recommendation, he started assisting at the court and learning the trade. However, the decisive influence on Anastas's life choices came when his mother arrived in Belgrade and started working at the State Printing House. He soon abandoned his apprenticeship and joined the Prince's Serbian Typography to learn the art of typesetting.

Indissoluble Connection with the Court

He drew the attention of Prince Miloš Obrenović with the publication of the "Serbian Primer." As one of the more talented individuals, the Prince sent him to Vienna to study engraving at the Academy of "St. Anne." Upon his arrival in Vienna, he discovered lithography and learned from the renowned Štadler. By 1840, he was already creating lithographs of Dositej, Mušicki, and Vuk Karadžić. That same year, he became acquainted with the technique of capturing images on metal plates and one of the inventors of photography, Louis Daguerre, and began practicing photography. He purchased his first camera with a lens, the No. 3 model, with which he started capturing some of the most beautiful photographs of that period. In his "Autobiography," he wrote, "So I can say that I am the first one in the entire Slavic world who became interested in photography." 

To support himself while staying in Vienna, he made icons for Orthodox Greeks and Vlachs. He traveled with Prince Miloš in Germany, visited museums, socialized, and mingled with European nobility. After completing his studies at the Academy, he published the work "Serbian Monuments."

He excelled in lithography, photography, painting, sculpture, heraldry, jewelry design, ornamentation, and furniture design. He achieved the most during his time in Vienna.

The peak of his political career was when he became the administrator of Prince Mihailo's court.

After the Saint Andrew's Assembly in 1858, Anastas was appointed as the administrator of Prince Mihailo's court. After the prince's death in 1868, he withdrew from public life, focused on photography, and lived a secluded life. He passed away on November 13, 1899, in Belgrade. He was married multiple times and left behind two sons and a daughter.

Anastas's sister Katarina was married to Nikola Hadži Popović, and the neighborhood of Hadžipopovac in Palilula, a part of Belgrade bordered by Cvijićeva Street, Zdravko Čelar Street, Čarli Čaplin Street, Mija Kovačević Street, and Ruzveltova Street, was named after them.

Renowned Portraits

The majority of Anastas's work consists of portraits of men and women. His portraits often feature figures in a seated position, with close-ups of their heads and waist-up portraits.

He is best known for his portraits of royalty, particularly the portraits of Prince Mihailo. The first photograph of Prince Mihailo was taken in Belgrade but is not preserved, while all the others were mostly taken in Vienna. In addition to the series of portraits of Prince Mihailo, Anastas also created portraits of Princess Julia, Vuk Karadžić, Petar Petrović Njegoš, Toma Vučić Perišić, Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Ilija Garašanin, Branko Radičević, Persida Karađorđević, and many others. His self-portraits are also preserved.

His work also includes photographs of architecture in Vienna, Belgrade, and Kragujevac. Among the most valuable are the photographs of the Belgrade Fortress, the panorama of Belgrade with the harbor, the Sava River near Belgrade, the view from the Captain Miša's Mansion, the Reading Room, and photographs taken during the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Takovo Uprising in 1865.

Anastas Jovanović was the first photographer to capture Belgrade with his camera.