Name of Object:

Petar Zrinski (Vrbovec, Croatia, 6.6.1621–Wiener Neustadt, 30.4.1671)

Location:

Zagreb, North-West Croatia, Croatia

Holding Museum:

Croatian History Museum

Original Owner:

Gallery of Donors, Pauline monastery in Svetice

Date of Object:

Before 1670 (?)

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Unknown artist, probably from the Pauline Order

Museum Inventory Number:

HPM/PMH 8701

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

H: 107 cm; w: 59 cm

Provenance:

Private owner, Zagreb

Type of object:

Painting (portrait)

Period of activity:

Second half of the 17th century

Place of production:

Croatia (?)

Description:

A descendant of a noble and distinguished Croatian family, Count Petar Zrinski excelled in battles against the Turks. After the death of his elder brother Nikola (d. 1664) – Croatian ban (viceroy) and a most prominent Hungarian poet of his time – Petar became ban from 1665 to 1671. He translated – from Hungarian to Croatian – Nikola's poem Adrianskoga mora Syrena (The Siren of the Adriatic Sea). He was married to Ana Katarina Frankopan (d. 1673) with whom he had a son, Ivan Antun, and three daughters: Judita Petronila and Veronika who became nuns, and Jelena (1643–1693), who married first Franjo Rákóczy and later Emerik Tököly.
Petar Zrinski along with other distinguished noblemen – his brother-in-law Franjo Krsto Frankopan, Franjo Nadasdy and Erasmus Tattenbach – were accused and tried for conspiracy against the Absolutist rule of Emperor Leopold I Habsburg. Found guilty, execution of the conspirators took place at Wiener Neustadt on 30 April 1671. On the eve of his death, Petar wrote a famous goodbye letter in Croatian to his wife Katarina, beginning with the words “My dear heart …” After his death the huge Zrinski estates in Croatia were confiscated and plundered.
The portrait shows Petar Zrinski dressed as a wealthy nobleman, with the Zrinski coat of arms in the upper left-hand corner. Painted for the monastery in Svetice near Karlovac, Croatia, this portrait together with the portrait of Emperor Leopold I, are by an unknown Pauline artist. Pairing up the two portraits – Petar Zrinski and Emperor Leopold I – suggests that both were produced before the conspiracy and trial, some time before 1670.

A portrait of the Croat nobleman, Count Petar Zrinski, who excelled in battles against the Turks and was executed for treason by Emperor Leopold I.

How date and origin were established:

A painted inscription at the bottom of the work states “Monastery Szveticzensis fundationem 1627. factam, Comes / Petrus Zrinius ratificat 1640. 19 Iuny. Eidémq(ue) forum Ecclesiae / Vicinum imperpetuat 1646”, indicating that the painting was for the Pauline monastery in Svetice, Croatia. Further confirmation of the date and origin of the work relies on documentation in the Museum inventory.

How Object was obtained:

Bought for the Museum from a private owner in 1964.

Selected bibliography:

Schneider, M., Portreti 16–18. stoljeća(Portraits from the 16th to the 18th Century), Zagreb, 1982, pp. 195–196.
Od svagdana do blagdana. Barok u Hrvatskoj. Katalog izložbe (From Everyday to Holidays: Baroque in Croatia), exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1993, p. 245.
Šimat, M., Portreti Nikole i Petra Zrinskih, ikonografska emisija značaja i pretenzija (Portraits of Nikola and Petar Zrinski: Iconographic Emission of Importance and Pretensions), Zagreb, 2000, pp. 55–81.

Citation of this web page:

Marina Bregovac Pisk "Petar Zrinski (Vrbovec, Croatia, 6.6.1621–Wiener Neustadt, 30.4.1671)" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;hr;Mus11_A;4;en

Prepared by: Marina Bregovac PiskMarina Bregovac Pisk

SURNAME: Bregovac Pisk
NAME: Marina

AFFILIATION: Croatian History Museum, Zagreb, Croatia

TITLE: Museum Advisor, Paintings, Prints and Sculptures

CV:
Marina Bregovac Pisk was awarded her BA in History of Art and English Language (Faculty of Philosophy) Zagreb University in 1979, and her MA in 2003 (Department of History of Art) from the same Faculty. She has been Museum Advisor for the Collection of Paintings, Prints and Sculptures at the Croatian History Museum in Zagreb since 1985, and is the author of several catalogues on the museum’s collections: The Events of 1848–1849 in Prints (2000), Portraits in the Print Collection of the Croatian History Museum (2008) and various other exhibition catalogues.
Translation by: Tomislav Pisk
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: HR 04