This painting of Saint Nicholas was completed by Mihajlo Živković (1776-1825) in 1813 and is now displayed at the National Museum of Serbia. Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop whose reputation for protecting travellers and sailors made him one of the most widely revered saints in the Orthodox Christian world. Encountering him during my own journey across the Balkans therefore seemed reassuring, although I would have preferred to establish precisely when his protection had commenced and whether it applied retrospectively.
Živković depicts Nicholas in episcopal robes, holding a book in one hand and raising the other in blessing. Behind him are ships, water and a coastal settlement beneath gathering clouds, directly connecting the saint with the maritime dangers from which people hoped he would protect them. The halo and formal pose belong to traditional religious imagery, but the landscape gives the painting a more immediate sense of events unfolding while Nicholas remains impressively calm in the foreground. Calmness is a virtue, but when you’re a saint I suppose this comes more naturally.
Saint Nicholas was essentially providing an early form of travel insurance, although the full terms and conditions appear not to have survived. His protection traditionally covered shipwrecks, storms and other serious dangers, but there was no indication of whether delayed buses, airport security queues, extreme heat or a warm glass of coke was included. Nonetheless, with several countries still ahead of me and a long train journey approaching, I was pleased to discover that someone apparently had responsibility for the portfolio. It’s good to have a responsible adult.