Illuminations
Gospel illumination by Svetozar Pajić Diak
In 1998 Serbian artist and calligrapher Svetozar Pajić Diak began a study of the historical material related to the Serbian nation and its participation in the creation of literacy culture from the 12th to the 16th century. Admiring the beauty of our historical and cultural heritage, which is very little known, he set on a difficult mission of a new transcription of old artistic works from the Middle Ages, in the manner the old scribes.
With a goose quill and aged paper, he hand-copied the original of The Codex of the Emperor Stefan Dušan in a calligraphic manner, and then hand-copied the same Codex into the contemporary Serbian language, using the same manner and style. With the same inspiration, he continued to hand-copy the most beautiful pages of the Gospels, first on aged paper, then on kidskin and finally on parchment.
Now we have newly hand-copied Medieval spiritual works rescued from the centuries of oblivion and made available to the views and admiration of contemporary man. And that was Mr. Pajić’s goal in all his endeavours; in his own words, he wanted to present to his nation its own literacy culture and unique beauty of Medieval miniatures.
From the introduction to the artist's work, by Professor Bogdan Stanojević