They tried to sell Vojvodina's most famous historical painting for €600,000, ended up in handcuffs

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Slobodan Gajin and several other suspects were arrested in an operation carried out yesterday by members of the Serbian police's SBPOK unit and the Swiss police, for trying to sell a painting by Vlaho Bukovac, "Blagovestanski Sabor," for 600,000 euros.

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According to Belgrade media, the police searched the apartments of the suspects in Makedonska Street yesterday for trying to resell the painting in Switzerland. The search of the apartments is just a continuation of a large operation in Belgrade, where other suspects were arrested, while the search continued in the Politika building, said Srpski Telegraf.

Vlaho Bukovac is one of the most famous painters of the Yugoslav region, who is considered to be a "traditional modernist." He was an extremely influential and charismatic painter and pedagogue, a cosmopolitan, considered to have left behind a significant mark and gained great social reputation and recognition. He was the author of the famous historical painting "The Annunciation Assembly in 1861" (the Serb Church-People's Assembly in Karlovac), which a Zagreb merchant, Petar Nikolic, copied as a lithograph and sold on.

Bukovac is also known for personally painting portraits of Serbian Queen Natalija Obrenovic, as well as Kings Petar and Aleksandar Karadjordjevic. He also painted portraits of both serbian King Aleksandar Obrenovic and Queen Draga. Originally from Cavtat, in what is today Croatia, Bukovac always identified as a Serb.

(Telegraf.rs)