In my thesis, I studied the painting Narcissus, which is the work of the Slovenian neoclassical painter Franc Kavčič. He was born in Gorizia and studied in Vienna, Bologna and Rome. He later worked in Venice, Mantua and Vienna Academy. All of that was enabled by his patron Count Filip Cobenzl. Kavčič was a professor at the academy and later even its director. Good connections, which were largely the result of an excellent patron, brought him the most distinguished orders, including the imperial one. The Narcissus painting is part of a larger order of twelve paintings commissioned by the Auersperg family for their Viennese palace in the early 19th century. It is a fine example of neoclassical painting with sharp outlines and serenity, an ideal landscape and inspiration from antiquity. It has mythological subject. The painting is symbolically extremely rich. Because it is little researched, it is quite open to interpretations. At the initiative of Ksenija Rozman, who devoted a lot of time to Franc Kavčič and his work, ten paintings from this order are in the collection of the National Gallery in Ljubljana, including Narcissus.
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