DER KÜNSTLERISCHE UND HANDSCHRIFTLICHE NACHLASS VON LADISLAUS GRAF PEJACSEVICH AUS RETFALA UND RUMA Ladislaus Graf Pejacsevich ist das letzte männliche Mitglied des Ruma-Retfala-Zweiges dieser Familie. Er lebte in Retfala in der...
moreDER KÜNSTLERISCHE UND HANDSCHRIFTLICHE NACHLASS VON LADISLAUS GRAF PEJACSEVICH
AUS RETFALA UND RUMA
Ladislaus Graf Pejacsevich ist das letzte männliche Mitglied des Ruma-Retfala-Zweiges dieser Familie. Er lebte in Retfala in der Nähe von Osijek und in Hadersdorf in der Nähe von Wien, und verwaltete auch die Herrschaft Ruma, die er um die Wende vom 19. zum 20. Jahrhundert wirtschaftlich wesentlich förderte. Die Memoiren, in denen Graf Ladislaus den tragischen Tod seines Schwagers Hugo Graf Eltz und die Unruhen in Syrmien und Slawonien im Jahr 1848 beschrieb, sind aufbewahrt. Seine Erinnerungen tragen zu einem besseren Verständnis über die Lebensweise unseres Adels in der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bei. In den Memoiren sind sowohl sein bescheidenes jedoch interessantes zeichnerisches Opus als auch die Beziehungen zum österreichischen Künstler Franz Alt, der einen Teil seiner Kunstwerke auf den Herrschaften der adeligen Familien Pejacsevich und Eltz schuf, beschrieben.
THE LEGACY OF ART WORKS AND MANUSCRIPTS OF COUNT
LADISLAV PEJAČEVIĆ FROM RETFALA AND RUMA
The text of the memoirs of Count Ladislav Pejačević (1828-1916) was found at Herrnau
Castle (a southern suburb of Salzburg), the residence of his heirs, the Clary-Aldringen
family. The legacy of the Ruma-Retfala family Pejačević was preserved in this castle;
the grand seat of the family was at Retfala Castle in the western part of Osijek and
the business headquarters were in Ruma (today the Republic of Serbia). This text was
revised and typewritten in 1975 by its author’s grandson Count Hinko Khuen Bélasi.
Of major importance in the events described is a significant event of the Eltz and
Pejačević family history, i.e. the tragic fate of Count Hugo Eltz, the husband of
Ladislav’s sister Ludvina, who was killed in Vukovar on October 26, 1848. The author
of Uspomene described, among events referring to the family, the social and political
circumstances that had led to this homicide, hence the text offers a very interesting
view of the history of the time in the territory of Slavonia and Syrmia. The text provides
information on political figures and events as well as on the daily life of noble
families in the mid-19th century and it adds to our previous knowledge on the topic.
This paper provides a cultural-historical review of the text Uspomene and the Croatian
translation. Along with biographical data on the author, the paper also provides a review
of the legacy of the Ruma-Retfala branch of the family and their Retfala manor
with the prestigious neo-Classicist castle with its extensive grounds, which was in
the mid-19th century at the peak of its social and cultural existence. The paper also
discusses the role of Count Ladislav Pejačević in the history of the management of the
Ruma estate, the economy of which he improved and stabilized.
Special emphasis has been placed on the relation between Count Ladislav Pejačević
and the fine arts. Some of his drawings and watercolours with portraits of family
members, notable persons from social life, the interior of the Vukovar Castle and of
Vukovar were found. It is almost unknown to the public that he was an amateur painter
and that his family established a productive relationship with the Austrian painter
Franz Alt, whose oeuvre includes paintings and depictions painted at the Slavonian
and Syrmian estates of the Pejačević and Eltz families, and who most likely had an
influence on Ladislav’s art of painting and the quality of his works.
Keywords: count Ladislav Pejačević, Retfala, Ruma, Eltz family, memoirs, Revolution
of 1848, visual arts
(Translated by Mica Orban Kljajić)
