In the winter of 1947, in his 88th year, Paja Jovanović accepted the invitation by Josip Broz Tito to join a group of artists who were supposed to make a portrait of him at his residence in the Belgrade neighbourhood of Dedinje. An account of that interesting experience can be found in the painter's private notes. While Tito was sitting for portrait, Paja Jovanović, "standing far behind the others", was making merely drawings and "little sketches" because the position of the Marshal and the lighting conditions from where he stood were unfavourable. Later, in the peace of his studio, Jovanović made a few portraits on the basis of these drawings.