Printing of Stemmatographia

Publication Context. Hristofor Žefarović, an 18th-century painter and engraver, focused on copper engraving and book illustration after 1740. He collaborated with Thomas Mesmer in Vienna, using Mesmer's etching-typographical workshop to print his works, including the Stemmatographia.

Content and Significance. The Stemmatographia, published in Vienna in 1741, is considered a work of greatest importance for the South Slavic Revival. It contains 56 coats of arms of South Slavic and Balkan countries, each accompanied by descriptive quatrains, regarded as the first example of modern secular Bulgarian and Serbian poetry.

Intellectual Influences. During its composition, Žefarović drew upon the Stemmatographia of Pavao Ritter Vitezović from 1701. Vitezović’s work itself had utilized Kingdom of the Slavs by Mauro Orbini from 1601, establishing a lineage of South Slavic historical and heraldic literature.