When Stupica’s daughter Marija Lucija (1950−2002) was born, his (and Slovenian) art transformed. As he said: “She is my archetype, she stands atthe beginning.” The daughter became a perpetual motif that Stupica raised from the early dark and realistic studio to the bright world of ideas, wherethe images of a child, a bride, Flora, and a girl with a veil did not conform to the classical painting conventions on depth, perspective and shading. Lucija in an old-fashioned dress is one of Stupica’s earliest depictions of his daughter. The life-size figure before a non-descript background, a view frombelow that gives the little being an air of dignity, and the pastel dress echothe tradition of children portraits of Spanish princesses from the 17th centuryand Stupica’s sojourn in Zagreb; he moved to Ljubljana only after the Second World War.