Drawing Collection
The Drawing Collection was established by a decision of the Expert Museum Council in 2011 and brings together drawings that were previously catalogued as part of the painting or print collections. It comprises 511 items dating from the 17th to the 21st century and holds considerable documentary value, as it vividly illustrates changes in the appearance of Split and its surroundings over the centuries and provides information about people and events from Dalmatia’s past.
The drawings in the Collection have been acquired since the Museum’s founding, primarily through donations or acquisitions, and their provenance is connected to Split and the wider Dalmatian region.
One of the most valuable parts of the Drawing Collection is a portfolio of original works by the Venetian engineer Giuseppe Santini, created between 1666 and 1668, featuring views and plans of Dalmatian towns and providing, among other things, the most accurate depictions and layouts of Split and its surroundings.
The Collection also includes drawings by the English architect Thomas Graham Jackson, who between 1882 and 1886 carefully recorded the region’s most significant artistic monuments in Dalmatia, Istria, and the Kvarner area. The appearance of Split’s People’s Square before its demolition in 1821 is captured in a watercolour drawing by Faustina M. Vecchietti, and, thanks to the draughtsman Albert Benningsen, the Museum holds eleven cityscapes from the first quarter of the 20th century.