Vasilije Romanovič and Jov Vasilijevič were accomplished icon painters who came from Imperial Russia to Srem on an invitation from the Arsenije IV Jovanović Šakabenta together with a group of Serbian newly graduated academic artists of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Romanovič became part of the teaching staff of a newly-constructed Academy of Painting, built and funded by the metropolitan, while Vasiljevič became a court painter of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci.