Dičo Zograf

Dimitar Krstev Dičov (Bulgarian: Димитър Кръстев Дичов, Macedonian: Димитар Крстев Дичов, Serbian: Димитар Крстевић), also known as Dičo Krstev (Дичо Крстев) and best known as Dičo Zograf (Дичо Зограф) (1819–1872) was a Mijak iconographer, fresco painter[1][2] and a representative of the Debar Art School in the Balkans in the 19th century.

In his short life he painted more than 2,000 icons in Orthodox churches in then Ottoman Empire (today Albania, Greece, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Serbia and possibly Bosnia).

[3] Characteristically, his icons were painted on a neutral, mostly golden background, and thus emphasized the spirituality of the characters of the saints.

Zograf was born in the neighborhood of Lekovci in the village Tresonče in the Mijak region of Macedonia.

Zograf was not interested in woodcarving, so he increasingly stared at the painters that his father often saw and made friends with.

Zograf was an important painter, who in a short period of time painted more than 2,000 icons for the needs of the Orthodox churches, everywhere in North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece.

He accepted the offer and with the group they passed a large part of what is today Greek Macedonia and painted many icons and frescoes.

During this period, Zograf worked on icons and frescoes for the Orthodox churches in Ohrid, mostly restoring the older iconostases and replicating the external ones.

[6] Since the early 2000s, a large part of the cultural wealth and heritage of North Macedonia is a target of thievery, from which Zograf's icons have not been spared.

Zograf left a biographical record of his life, family and work and two guides to icon painting in manuscript form.

[2] The second guide, written around 1830–1850, is currently stored in the Bulgarian National Historical Museum in Sofia with the code "MIS 1286".

[14] Zograf has been a subject of various scientific studies, exhibitions and commemorations organized in North Macedonia and abroad.