Mato Celestin Medović

Mato Celestin Medović (birth name Mato Medović; 17 November 1857 – 20 January 1920) was a Croatian painter. Best known for his large paintings depicting historical scenes, and his series of colourful landscapes and seascapes of his native Dalmatia, Medović is one of the earliest modern Croatian painters.

In his youth Medović was schooled to become a priest in the Franciscan Seminary in Dubrovnik, and was ordained in 1874, taking the name of Celestin. He received his first art training in Italy, and went on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he began painting artistic impressions of historical events. Following graduation he decided to leave the church and pursue his painting career. Medović then moved to Zagreb and joined a group of artists led by Vlaho Bukovac, a renowned painter. His work from this period includes historical depictions at the building of the Croatian Institute of History. Since 1901 Medović increasingly began to spend time on his native Pelješac in southern Croatia, painting nature, still lifes, seascapes and landscapes in a style marked by his use of colour and light shadows.