M. Olivero
The harbour of Split

The panoramic view of the Harbour of Split was created in 1892. The author of this painting is the unfamiliar painter M. Olivero, who while passing through Split, was commissioned by the Split merchant Špiro Tocigla to paint six panoramic landscapes of Split and its surroundings.

The only information about the travelling painter is the one announcing his stay in Split published in the local newspaper in March, 1892. At that time Split was a small provincial town at the edge of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and had a population of only 15.000, and just a handful of painters were working in it, the majority of whom were amateurs, not professional painters, so the arrival of a foreign painter was an event worth the attention.