Teodor Dimitrijević, known as Teodor Kračun was a Serbian icon and altar painter.
Biography
He was born at Sremska Kamenica in 1730. His original surname was Dimitrijević, but later the nickname "Kračun" stuck. He studied art under Dimitrije Bačević, a well-known icon- and portrait painter, before taking monastic vows and entering the Vienna Academy in 1769. During his lifetime he produced numerous icons and altarpieces that are still extant today in Serbian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and cathedrals throughout the province of Vojvodina. He was an acknowledged master of the Baroque period, considered the first great modern Serbian painter, and the most renowned of the Baroque and Rococo painting style in northern Serbia. His contemporaries were Stefan Tenecki, Dimitrije Popović, another student of Bačević, and Jakov Orfelin, among others. His first famous work was the iconostasis in the Church of St. George in Sombor, of which only the throne of Christ is preserved. Several of his icons, with the representations of Apostles and Prophets, from Hopovo Monastery was also preserved. Kračun's iconostasis from Neštin and Susek bear his signature. The new themes, like the cycle with the Passion of Christ, appear differently arranged because of the influence of the Roman Catholic church and Ukraine. Also, unusual is the placement of Emperor Uroš and Prince Lazar on the north and south doors. His greatest and most important works, done between 1771-1781, are the two iconostases in the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas in Sremski Karlovci. The smaller one in the chapel of St. George in the choir area and the other, larger one, in the church which was the most representative structure of the Serbian baroque built between 1752 and 1762, by Metropolitan Pavle Nenadović. on the small iconostasis, the Orthodox icon of the Mother of God was transformed "into a baroque genre scene of washing over the water pool surrounded by nobles and the clergy, the poor and the rich, gathered together." The Large iconostasis was made by Kračun, together with Jakov Orfelin. His were the throne icons: St. Simeon and Saint Sava St. Basil and St. John the Theologian, twelve Feast icons several icons from the cycle of the Passion of Christ. The rest of the throne icons were done by Orfelin. Christ, Mother of God, St. John, the Descent of the Holy Spirit unto the Apostles, and the large icon of the Holy Trinity which bears his signature. For the Cathedral Church, Kračun did ten icons mounted on wood and for the upper church in Karlovci a series of icons. Several iconostasis icons in the Church of the Holy Archdeacon Stefan in Sremska Mitrovica, are also attributed to him. Some of the historians point out the resemblance of Kračun's painting to the art of the great El Greco, which is characterized by the light-dark effects, vibrating movements and the interplay of draperies and the background. In Kračun's work, the elements or rocaille art are also present. He also painted portraits. His best work is the portrait of Archimandrite Jovan Jovanović of Novo Hopovo Monastery. According to the records of St. Nicholas Church in Sremski Karlovci, Kračun died on 10 April 1781.
