Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922) was born in Cavtat, near Dubrovnik on July 4, 1855. He showed inclination to drawing in his early childhood, but because of his family's poverty he could not continue his education. At the age of eleven his uncle took him to the United States, where he spent four hard years. His uncle soon died. In 1871, he returned to Dubrovnik and embarked as an apprentice on a merchant ship that sailed on regular line Istanbul- Odessa-Liverpool. In 1873 he went to Latin America, where he worked as a letter drawer in a coach factory in Peru. Three years later he returned to Cavtat. He found a sponsor in the person of Medo Pucic, a poet who recommended him to the archbishop Strossmayer, a very famous and influential Croatian at that time. In 1877 he presented Strossmayer the painting Turkinja u haremu (Turkish woman in harem). Thanks to Strossmayer's financial support and his own savings he... [https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2016/03/Vlaho-Bukovac.html]