Sava Henția

Sava Henția
Sava Henția
	Photo ~ 1880 - 1894
Born	1 February 1848; Sebeșel
Died	21 February 1904 (aged 56)
Nationality	Romanian
Education	Theodor Aman, Gheorghe Tattarescu, Alexander Cabanel
Alma mater	Bucharest National University of Arts; Académie des Beaux-Arts;
Known for	Painting, illustration, mural
Movement	Realism

Sava Henția (1 February 1848, Sebeșel - 21 February 1904, Sebeșel) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian painter, decorator and illustrator.

Biography

He was one of fourteen surviving children of a priest. In 1862, after finishing his primary education, he was apprenticed to an uncle, who taught him how to retouch photographs.^[1] The following year, he caught typhoid fever and the quinine that was used to treat it damaged his hearing.^[2]

His work with photographs encouraged him to pursue a career in art. From 1865 to 1870, he studied at the Bucharest National University of Arts with Gheorghe Tattarescu and Theodor Aman.^[1] He was then able to obtain a scholarship and went to Paris, where he enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-Arts and found a position in the prestigious workshop of Alexandre Cabanel. In 1873, he returned to Bucharest and became a teacher of drawing and calligraphy at the "Elena Doamna" orphan asylum.^[1]

Four years later, on the recommendation of Doctor Carol Davila, he became a correspondent with the Army ambulance corps and participated in the Russo-Turkish War (War of Independence), sketching numerous scenes of campaigns and battles, many of which he later made into watercolors.^[2] His painting of an artillery battery from Calafat was used on a one Leu postage stamp in 1977.^[3]

After the war, he worked as a teacher, interior decorator and book illustrator.^[1] Between 1901 and 1902, he was one of the artists commissioned to restore the murals and altarpieces at the Brebu Monastery. At the Cernica Monastery [ro], he produced portraits of that institution's founders.

His home in Sebeș became an historical monument. It was not properly maintained, however, and the roof collapsed in 2001.^{[citation needed]} After further deterioration, all that remained was the front wall and foundation. It was later taken off the list of historical monuments. A street in Bucharest is named after him.