1821-Greek Independence Day Archives

Maid of Athens

March 24, 2024

by admin 1821-Greek Independence Day 19th century Art Art Greek Art Neohellenic Art Social Studies Student Activities Worksheets

**Theodoros Vryzakis**, Greek Artist, 1814–1878
**The Maid of Athens**, 1860, oil on canvas, 97,5 x 71 cm, Anthony E. Comninos Foundation, Greece https://www.facebook.com/teloglion/photos/pcb.5776572499028058/5776566092362032

Maid of Athens, ere we part, / Give, oh give me back my heart! / Or, since that has left my breast, / Keep it now, and take the rest! / Hear my vow before I go, / Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. / By those tresses unconfined, / Wood by each Ægean wind; / By those lids whose jetty fringe / Kiss thy soft cheeks’ blooming tinge; / By those wild eyes like the roe, / Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. / By that lip I long to taste; / By that zone encircled waist; / By all the token-flowers that tell / What words can never speak so well; / By love’s alternate joy and woe. / Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. / Maid of Athens! I am gone: / Think of me, sweet! when alone. / Though I fly to Istambol, / Athens holds my heart and soul: / Can I cease to love thee? No! / Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. (Zoë mou, sas agapo – My Life, I love you)… wrote Lord Byron in 1810 while visiting Athens… https://allpoetry.com/Maid-Of-Athens,-Ere-We-Part

Lord Byron, the famous British poet, visited Greece in 1809-1810 as part of his Grand Tour of Europe and the Near East. He was motivated by a desire to explore the classical world and to see the ruins of antiquity. He was also interested in the politics of the region and was particularly intrigued by the ongoing struggles of the Greek people against Ottoman rule. Byron became a strong advocate of the Greek Struggle for Independence, donating money and resources to support the cause. His actions helped to raise awareness of the Greek cause and inspired other Europeans to support Greek independence as well. He is remembered as one of the most prominent philhellenes of the 19th century, the man whose influence on British public opinion helped the recognition of Greek independence by the British government.

Fascinated by the ancient Greek culture and history, Byron spent during 1810, several months in Athens, immersing himself in the local culture. Athens had a profound impact on his poetry, particularly in the creation of his epic poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, which was published in 1812 and became a literary sensation. The poem is a reflection on the ruins of ancient Greece and the contemporary state of the country, which was still under Ottoman rule. Greece inspired him to write several other poems, such as The Curse of Minerva, The Isles of Greece, and The Siege of Corinth, all of which reflect his admiration for ancient Greece and its culture.

The Maid of Athens is a poem by Lord Byron, published in 1810. It is a tribute to a Greek girl named Teresa Makri, whom the poet met during his first, 1810, stay in Athens. The poem expresses the speaker’s admiration for Teresa’s beauty and spirit, and his regret at not being able to spend more time with her. The poem is known for its romantic and exotic imagery and its evocation of the beauty and mystery of Greece.

In 1860, Theodoros Vryzakis, a 19th-century Greek painter, known for his historical and patriotic canvases depicting scenes from the Greek War of Independence, painted The Maid of Athens, inspired by Byron’s famous poem.

According to the National Gallery of Greece citation… After his father was hanged by the Turks in 1821, Theodoros Vryzakis and his brother Euthymios were sent to the Capodistrias Orphanage on Aegina. In 1832, probably with the help of Ludwig Thiersch, a progressive educator in the Court of King Otto of Greece, he went to Munich where he studied at the Panhellenion, the Greek school founded by Ludwig I for the orphans of the veterans of the Greek War of Independence. In 1844, he was accepted by the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, and until 1855 continued on a scholarship financed by the Greek community in Munich. https://www.nationalgallery.gr/en/artist/vryzakis-theodoros/

From 1848 to 1851, still financed by the Greek community in Munich, Vryzakis returned to Greece for an extended visit. He aimed to study the landscape and the people of Greece so he could accurately depict them in his history paintings. Could the Maid of Athens be the result of such a study? I wish I could accurately say Yes or No!

Vryzakis’s painting of the Maid of Athens, a tribute to the famous Philhellene, Lord Byron, is characteristically executed in the artist’s classical romantic spirit. His style, clearly influenced by Neoclassicism, idealizes the girl’s features, emphasizing her dark hair and eyes. If the Maid of Athens is indeed Theresa Macri, the eldest daughter of Theodora Macri, the widow of a former English vice-consul, she is depicted as described by the artist, Hugh W. Williams, who visited Athens in May 1817… Theresa, the Maid of Athens, …has black, or dark hair and eyes; her visage is oval, and her complexion somewhat pale, with teeth of pearly whiteness. Her cheeks are rounded, her nose straight, rather inclined to aquiline. Her countenance, except when the conversation has something of mirth in it, may be said to be rather pensive. She is elegant, and her manners pleasing and lady-like, such as would be fascinating in any country… https://genius.com/Lord-byron-maid-of-athens-ere-we-part-annotated – Travels in Italy, Greece, etc., ii. 291, 292.

Celebrating the Greek Revolution of 1821 and remembering… people and events!

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE! Lord Byron’s famous Poem Maid of Athens… is also the source of inspiration for a Melody by Charles Gounod… https://www.google.com/search?q=Maid+of+Athens+music+by+Gounod&rlz=1C1GGRV_enGR751GR751&oq=Maid+of+Athens+music+by+Gounod&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160l3.20210j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:10334ca8,vid:FEwgmMo0l5c

Raiment of the Soul

March 24, 2023

by admin 1821-Greek Independence Day 20th century Art Art Greek Art Student Activities

Photographer **Vangelis Kyris** and Artist of Embroidery **Anatoli Georgiev**
**Costume of Dimitrios Mavromichlis**, 19^th century, Hand finished silver embroidery, using silver stitching carousel and cord, on printed cotton canvas, 126×104 cm. https://gallerykourd.gr/el/raiment-of-the-soul-2/

”The focus of this exhibition is the traditional Greek costume. Simple or more elaborate, everyday or festive, with embroidery and gold decorations, it is not a simple garment. It is a complex semiotic portrait of the person who wears it” said President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou in her greeting at the opening of the exhibition Raiment of the Soul at the Acropolis Museum (December 20, 2022, until April 2, 2023).https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/topics/culture-society/7819-raiment-of-the-soul

There are seventy artworks presented in this fine exhibition. They are embroidered photographs of garments and costumes mostly of the 19th century, safeguarded in the past and present with the love and care of people, mainly the personnel of the National Historical Museum of Athens, but also of other Greek Museums. Two artists are responsible for this unique body of work, photographer Vangelis Kyris and artist of embroidery Anatoli Georgiev. They collaborated with Museums holding these precious costumes and chose the ‘right’ contemporary models to wear them. Then, Vangelis Kyris photographed each model capturing the essence of the costume she/he wore. When the photos were printed on large pieces of cotton canvases, majestic like Renaissance paintings, Anatoli Georgiev, using gold or silver thread stitching, silk or cotton threads, cord, sequins, metallic or knitted buttons… embroidered seminal parts of the costume’s original needlework, creating ‘poetry’ through texture. https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/temporary-exhibitions/raiment-soul

The artists see their project, as a journey from the past to the future, with the present as a boat. For Vangelis Kyris beauty is what soothes your gaze and educates your soul, and for Anatoli Georgiev, it is Measure, balance, the feeling that what you see elevates your aesthetics.https://www.ifocus.gr/magazine/editors-choice/3044-xronia-polla-ellada-me-endyma-psyxis and https://www.womantoc.gr/stories/article/afto-pou-anakoufizei-to-vlemma-sou-mia-ksexoristi-ekthesi-gia-tin-oraiotita-ton-pragmaton/

For me, Raiment of the Soul is the best way to Celebrate Greece and its Independence Day!

Demetrios Mavromichalis was the fifth son of Petrobeis Mavromichalis. He was born in Mani, and lived for many years in Paris, upon his return he followed a military career, reaching the rank of lieutenant general. He was a supporter of King Otto I of Greece and took part in the revolution of 1862. As a politician, he participated in the governments of Voulgaris, Kanaris, and Benizelos Roufos. Presented by Kyros and Georgiev in the Acropolis Museum Exhibition, Mavromichalis’s Portrait comes alive and embodies the spirit of Greece through colours, movement, and texture.

Photographer **Vangelis Kyris** and Artist of Embroidery **Anatoli Georgiev**
**Esther Mastrogianni wearing the Epirote Costume of Kyra Frosyni,** 18^th century, Hand finished gold embroidery using cord, stitching, and metal sequins on printed cotton canvas, 130×170 cm. https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/temporary-exhibitions/raiment-soul

**Acropolis Museum View of the Exhibition Raiment of the Soul** with the original Costume of Kyra Frosyni in the Collection of the National Historical Museum of Athens https://www.okmag.gr/lifestyle/protaseis/endyma-psychis-mia-monadiki-ekthesi-me-endymasies-istorikon-prosopon-sto-mouseio-tis-akropolis-me-protovoulia-tis-mariannas-vardinogianni/

Euphrosyne Vasileiou is better known as Kyra Frosini. She lived in Ioannina, in Epirus and she was famous for her beauty and spirit. Kyra Frosyni was executed for adultery in Ioannina by the Ottoman governor Ali Pasha of Ioannina along with 17 other women. She was allegedly executed for political reasons and was thereby viewed as a national heroine. Her violet-coloured dress represents the finest of 18^th century Greek craftsmanship. The Kyros and Georgiev Portrait of Kyra Frosyni is ‘alive’ and stunningly ‘beautiful’ in its regal disposition.

Photographer **Vangelis Kyris** and Artist of Embroidery **Anatoli Georgiev**
**Anatoli Georgiev wearing the attire of Vaso Brajević a Serbian general who became a hero of the Greek War of Independence known by the nickname Mavrovouniotis (“Montenegrin”),** 19^th century Greek traditional costume, Hand finished gold embroidery using gold metal thread, stitching, cord and metal sequins, on printed cotton canvas, 126×103 cm. https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/topics/culture-society/7819-raiment-of-the-soul

**Protected…until the day…detail from the costume of Vasos Mavrovouniotis… by Vangelis Kyris** https://www.facebook.com/v.kyris/photos/a.598821666844976/2920413098019143?locale=el_GR

Vaso Brajević was a Serbian general who became a hero of the Greek War of Independence known by the nickname Mavrovouniotis (“Montenegrin”). His life was adventurous, risk-taking, and bold. Anatoli Georgiev wearing the attire of Vaso Brajević Mavdovouniotis presents a striking and dramatic Portrait of a truly revolutionary personality of a harsh but ‘Romantic’ era.

For Student Activities on the Greek War of Independence, please… Click HERE!

For a short Video on the Exhibition Raiment of the Soul, prepared by the Acropolis Museum, Click… https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/temporary-exhibitions/raiment-soul

Eros and the Bee

February 13, 2023

by admin 16th century Art 1821-Greek Independence Day Art Mythology Northern Renaissance Renaissance Student Activities Worksheets

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey**, 1530, Oil on Panel, 38 x 58 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark
https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp719

A wicked bee once filching Eros stung, / As from hive unto hive the sly god flew. / Looting the flower-sweet honeycombs among; / With finger-tips all pierced he cried and blew /
His hand, and stamped upon the ground with pain, / And vaulted in the air; to Aphrodite / Sadly he came commencing to complain, / “Although the bee is small his wound is mighty.” / Then said his mother smiling, “Are you not / A creature small just like the bee, I pray? / But ne’ertheless it must not be forgot— / The cruel wounds you deal—how great are they!” Idyll XIX, Eros, and the Bee, attributed to the ancient Greek Poet Theocritus of the 3^rd century BC, is the source of inspiration for a number of paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder depicting an alluring Venus, and Eros, a stolen piece of honeycomb in hand, stung by Bees. My favourite version, in the SMK Art Museum in Denmark, is expecting us to probe and explore… http://nicholasjv.blogspot.com/2009/11/sweetness-of-honey-and-sting-of-bees.html

Venus with Cupid as a honey thief was probably one of the most successful mythology-inspired compositions created by the German artist of the Renaissance period Lucas Cranach the Elder. Scholars suggest there are twenty versions of the same theme, dated between 1527 and 1545, painted by the artist, his workshop, or followers of his theme and style.

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Cupid complaining to Venus**, c. 1526–27, Oil on Panel, 81.3×54.6 cm, National Gallery, London, UK
**Venus and Cupid as Honey Thief,** 1527, on beech wood, 83×58.2 cm, Güstrow Castle, Germany
**Venus and Cupid, the Honey Thief,** 1529, Oil and Tempera on Beech Wood, 38.1×23.5 cm, Cook collection, National Gallery, London UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_complaining_to_Venus

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Venus and Cupid,** 1531, Oil on Panel, 51×35 cm, Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse, France
**Venus and Cupid, the Honey Thief,** circa 1537, Oil on Lime Panel, 50.1×34.4 cm,
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany
**Venus with Cupid as a Honey Thief against a Black Background,** 1537, Oil on Lime Panel, 175.4×66.3 cm, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_complaining_to_Venus

These paintings depict the same two figures, Venus, the Greek Goddess of beauty and love in glorious nudity, and her son, Eros, god of love as well, holding a stolen piece of honeycomb, stung by bees, and in obvious pain. My favourite painting of Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey is exhibited in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Denmark and combines all the important elements of the composition.

In the upper, left corner of the painting in Denmark, a sign with a reference to Idyll XIX of Theocritus clearly explains the theme. “As Cupid was stealing honey from the hive / A bee stung the thief on the finger / And so do we seek transitory and dangerous pleasures. / That are mixed with sadness and bring us pain.” The wording does not reproduce Theocritus’ exact Greek text, but rather a Latin epigram based on the poem. Painted on a cream-coloured ‘panel’ on the upper left side of the painting, the epigram is related to the work of the great German humanist Philipp Melanchthon. with whom Cranach was closely connected in producing illustrations for Luther’s Bible translation. (A short but comprehensive presentation of Philipp Melanchthon’s contribution to Humanism in Germany… Melanchthon: A German Humanist by A. Pelzer Wagener, The Classical Weekly, Vol. 22, No. 20 (Mar. 25, 1929), pp. 155-160 (6 pages). I particularly like his point of view that Greek and Latin should be studied side by side by all who sought to grasp the substance of the involved rather than its shadow”. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4389299?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents) https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp719

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey (Detail)**, 1530, Oil on Panel, 38 x 58 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark
https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp719

Examining Cranach’s painting at SMK, depicting Venus, Eros, and the landscape that surrounds them, I see, compared to the rest of Cranach’s paintings of the same theme. elegance and grace, an understated sense of humor, and a subtle mood of morality. The Landscape, in a true Norther European Renaissance tradition, is glorious, lush, and detailed. It invites you to examine the luxurious foliage, the city reflections on the depicted water, and the travelers’ mannerisms. Eros, a blond toddler with blue wings, ever so charming, is displaying his surprise and pain with gusto. Venus looks at the viewer, and laughs, explaining to him that the effect is comparable to the wounds he himself inflicts on all those struck by his arrows. What a painting to consider Love, Euphoria, and Heartache!

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Joseph Karl Stieler’s Portrait of Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris

March 24, 2022

by admin 1821-Greek Independence Day 19th century Art Art Education Greek Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Joseph Karl Stieler,** German Painter,1781–1858
**Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris,** 1841, oil on canvas, 72,4 x 59 cm, Gallery of Beauties, Schönheiten-Galerie König Ludwig I, Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Germany
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portr%C3%A4t_von_Katharina_Botzaris.jpg

The diarist Christiane Lüth (1817–1900), whose husband was appointed personal chaplain to Queen Amalia of Greece wrote about Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris in her diaries: Of the two young ladies-in-waiting, Miss von Wiesenthau was not very well mannered, Catholic and not very pretty, although she talked constantly. The Greek, very beautiful Rosa Botzaris was not agreeable, but stingy and hated everything German. She was poor, but the glory which surrounded the name of her father, the freedom hero, Marko Botzaris, shone its light over her. When she travelled with the Queen, she was much celebrated for her beauty, which was highlighted by her national costume. She hid the fact that she understood the German language and spread dangerous political comments around her which much damaged Their Majesties, her benefactors. It is obvious Christiane Lüth did not like much, either of Queen Amalia’s Ladies in Waiting, but Rosa’s beauty is undisputed, and Joseph Karl Stieler’s Portrait of Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris is an excellent testimony! https://www.kathryngauci.com/blog-105-25-3-2021-a-literary-world-katerina-rosa-botsaris/

Between 1827 and 1850 Joseph Karl Stieler, court painter of Bavaria, was commissioned by King Ludwig I to create 36 portraits of the most beautiful women from the nobility and middle classes of Munich, Germany. These portraits were to decorate the south pavilion of Ludwig’s Nymphenburg Summer Palace. Among these very popular portraits was that of a Greek lady, Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris, the daughter of Markos Botsaris, the hero of the 1821 Greek Revolution. https://arrayedingold.blogspot.com/2011/11/gallery-of-beauties.html

**Gallery of Beauties, Schönheiten-Galerie König Ludwig I, Nymphenburg Palace,** Munich, Germany
https://schloesserblog.bayern.de/residenz-muenchen/boese-maedchen-kommen-irgendwohin-gute-maedchen-kommen-an-die-wand-die-schoenheitengalerie-ludwigs-i

Katerina’s life was not easy. Born to the prominent Souliot Botsaris family, Katerina was the daughter of Chrysoula Kalogirou and Markos Botsaris, the famed, and revered leader of the Greek War of Independence, who died on the night of August the 8^th, 1823, at Kefalobryso in Karpeisi, while with 450 Souliotes, ambushed the enemy camp of Mustafa Pasha of Shkoder (modern northern Albania) inflicting serious casualties. At the time, a child of 5 or 3 years old, Katerina Botsaris lived the life of a “hostage” in the city of Drama, at the harem of Dramali Mahmud Pasha, under the protection of upper-class Ottoman women. Katerina was apparently a particularly charming child, so much so that one of her “protectresses” wanted to officially adopt her. It was not meant to be, and during a prisoner exchange initiative, Katerina was returned to her family and reunited with her mother. Many “adventures” later, the orphaned family of Markos Botsaris settled at the newly created Greek state where members of the Botsaris family were to play an important role. https://archive.org/details/poikilstoaethni02raphgoog/page/n299/mode/2up?view=theater

While in Athens, the importance of the Botsaris name, her delightful personality, and great beauty attracted the attention of Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece from 1836 to 1862 as the spouse of King Otto (1815–1867), who appointed Katerina as her 1st Greek Lady-in-Waiting. In 1841, Katerina Botsaris accompanied Queen Amalia to Munich, the birthplace of King Otto of Greece. Tradition has it that upon arrival, as she was getting out of her carriage King Ludwig of Bavaria noticed Katerina’s Mediterranean beauty and hurried to assist her. Later on, the royal couple of Greece, Otto, and Amalia, suggested Katerina’s Portrait for the Gallery of Beauties, and King Ludwig wholeheartedly agreed. It is said that she was given the name Rosa, leaving behind her real name, from the ruby color of the rose … that her lips and cheeks had… https://www.bovary.gr/oramatistes/15798/roza-mpotsari-i-ellinida-kalloni-kori-toy-markoy-mpotsari-poy-emeine-sto-pantheon and https://www.patris.gr/2021/01/30/katerina-roza-mpotsari-i-kori-toy-iroa/

**Katerina “Rosa” Botsari Costume,** mid-19^th century, crimson velvet, and embroidery of gold cords, National History Museum – Historical & Ethnological Society of Greece (EIM), Athens, Greece
Photograph Credit: Christina Hilla Famel
https://www.huffingtonpost.gr/entry/endema-pseches-apo-te-foresia-tes-kera-frosenes-mechri-tes-rozas-mpotsare_gr_60f6b247e4b0e92dfebc53bb

Stieler’s Portrait of Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris shows a great Mediterranean beauty. Her complexion is glowing and creamy, her cheeks blushed with youth. High arched eyebrows frame a long straight nose and brown heavy-lidded eyes, which look out at us kindly, a light smile drawn at the corners of her mouth. Glossy chestnut hair flows down her neck, blending into the tassel of her jauntily placed hat and the fur collar of her jacket. She poses in front of the blue, tranquil Aegean Sea, and the pale blue but luminous Greek sky… a landscape that is atmospheric and tranquil, matching her character and demeanor. She wears an exquisite, fitted Kontogouni (vest)of crimson velvet, embroidered with gold cords, a crisp white Poukamisa (shirt), and a full, silk, pleated skirt, emphasizing her feminine shape. The Kontogouni survived time and it is still a prized treasure of the National History Museum of Greece. The artist Joseph Karl Stieler, trained in the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and in the Parisian atelier of François Gérard, a student of Jacques-Louis David, created, inspired by the Greek beauty of Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris, the perfect example of a controlled and romanticized Neoclassical portrait. https://www.art-theoria.com/painting-of-the-month/katerina-rosa-botzaris/ and https://www.nationalgallery.gr/images/docs/books/athina-monacho.pdf pages 546-548

In 1845 Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris married Prince George Karatzas. a military man of Fanariot descent and had four children, two of whom died at a young age. The marriage was not particularly happy due to her husband’s strict and authoritarian character and the death of her children. The beautiful Souliotissa died at the age of 57 in January 1875. https://www.patris.gr/2021/01/30/katerina-roza-mpotsari-i-kori-toy-iroa/

Katerina Agrafioti wrote a book (in Greek) about Katerina’s life… the story of a woman who, always respecting her origin, unreservedly served the social “musts” and overlooked her personal pursuits with the power and dignity she derived from her father’s name.https://www.kathimerini.gr/opinion/707109/aikaterini-roza-mpotsari-sti-skia-toy-onomatos-mythistorimatiki-viografia-apo-tin-katerina-agrafioti-ekdoseis-papyros/ and https://www.ianos.gr/ekaterini-roza-mpotsari-sti-skia-tou-onomatos-0195564

**Pietro Luchini,** Italian Painter,1800-1883
**Ekaterini Botzaris Caradja**, 1845, oil on canvas, 207×159 cm, Private Collection
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ekaterini_Caradja_Botzaris.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/84/89/14/848914762a7727cfeb43a89aef41f647.jpg

A Damask Rose species bred in 1856, brightly white and very fragrant, was named Rosa Botsaris after her. https://garden.org/plants/view/415/Rose-Rosa-Botzaris/

For a Student Activity, please … Check HERE!

**Rose named after Katerina “Rosa” Botsaris**
http://diolkos.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_136.html

Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship

March 23, 2021

by admin 1821-Greek Independence Day 19th century Art

**Nikiforos Lytras**, 1832-1927
**Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship**, 1873, oil on canvas, 143×109 cm, Averoff Gallery, Metsovo, Greece https://www.averoffmuseum.gr/kanaris-burning-the-turkish-flagship/?lang=en

“Mais le bon Canaris, donc un ardent sillon / Suit la barque hardie, / Sur les vaisseaux qu’il prend, comme son pavillon, / Arbore l’incendie ! But good Kanaris, whose daring boat / Is followed by a burning wake, / On the vessels he seizes, as his ensign, / Displays the blaze!” Writes Victor Hugo inspired by the daring deeds of Konstantinos Kanaris (anglicised as Constantine Canaris), distinguished as a brave fire ship captain. In 1873, Nikiforos Lytras painted Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship, honouring the great man. https://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/victor_hugo/canaris and https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fr_canar.html

Every time I travel to Metsovo, in the Epirote mountains of Pindos, in Northern Greece, I visit the Averoff Gallery and stop in front of Nikiforos Lytras’s painting Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship. You cannot miss it… It is one of the most captivating 19th-century Greek paintings. https://www.averoffmuseum.gr/

Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship is an amazing departure from what Nykiforos Lytras studied in the Münchner Akademie der Bildenden Künste under the tutelage of Karl Theodor von Piloty (1826-1886). An influential Art School, the Münchner Akademie, attracted and trained artists from around the world to become leading painters, able to combine in their style, academic realism, baroque colourism and dark chiaroscuro. The artists of the Akademie were committed to monumental history paintings, landscapes, ethnography, portraits and still life. Naturalism in its depiction of human emotions was not among the School’s greatest artistic pursuits. http://www.artmag.gr/art-history/art-history/item/270-i-sxoli-you-monaxou

**Konstantinos Kanaris (1793 – 1877)**
Greek and Philhellene Fighters in the Greek Revolution of 1821, Portraits of the German officer and Philhellene Karl Krazeisen
This is a rare series of the lithographs of Krazeisen, which are hand-painted.
https://www.eefshp.org/en/portfolio-item/konstantinos-kanaris-1793-1877/

Lytras’s painting on the heroic deed by Konstantinos Kanaris is a historic painting with a twist! The artist moves away “from the romantic tendency that prevailed in the School of Piloty to a more naturalistic one in which the genre element played the dominant role.” According to the description provided by the Averoff Museum “Lytras` anthropocentric painting… was not concerned so much with the historical event per se. More so it was the projection of the heroic act carried out by brave persons worthy of emulation. The flaming ship is thrust into the distance to form the backdrop for the human action that is played out on a plane close to the viewer. Thus, in contrast to the ambiguous treatment of the background, where the ship disappears half-hidden by the smoke, the realistic rendering of the Psarians with Kanaris in the boat gives the work the immediacy and truth that interested the artist.” https://www.averoffmuseum.gr/kanaris-burning-the-turkish-flagship/?lang=en

Nikiforos Lytras, the painter of Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship in Metsovo, was born in Pyrgi, on the Cycladic island of Tinos, the son of a marble sculptor. An exceptional talent, Lytras studied at the Athens School of Art from 1850 until 1860 and then, as the recipient of a state scholarship, he continued his studies at the Munich Academy, in the class of Karl von Piloty. In 1866 Lytras was back in Greece and was appointed professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts, a position he held for 38 productive years. A conscientious teacher, but interested to experience new ideas and always open to new trends, Nikiforos Lytras became the leading Greek artist of his time, popular with the people and honoured by his students and fellow artists.

**Nikiforos Lytras**, 1832-1927
**Self-Portrait,** 19th century, oil on canvas, 51,5 x 43,5 cm, National Gallery of Athens

There are two paintings on the theme of Kanaris Burning the Turkish Flagship. The earliest, chronologically, was painted by Nikiforos Lytras and today is exhibited in the Averoff Museum at Metsovo, one of my favourite Art Museums in Greece. The second painting, by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, was painted in 1881 and is part of the E. Koutlidis Collection and is exhibited in Athens at the National Gallery. For a Student “Compare and Contrast” Activity, paintings, please… Check HERE!

**Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky**, 1817-1900
**The Burning of the Turkish Flagship,** 1881,oil on canvas, 162×223 cm, National Gallery of Athens https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Burning_of_the_Turkish_Flagship_by_Kanaris_-_Ivan_Aivazovsky,_1881.png

If you wish to learn more about the Greek War of Independence and the Bicentennial Celebrations in 2021, please VISIT the official Greece 1821-2021 Bicentennial site http://www.greece2021.gr, Twitter, https://twitter.com/Greece_2021, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Greece2021/, and Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/greece2021/?hl=el

Celebrating the Greek Revolution of 1821

March 19, 2021

by admin 1821-Greek Independence Day 19th century Art Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Johann Georg Christian Perlberg,** 1806-1884
**Drums for the War of Independence – Young Drummer in Missolunghi**, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 34.5 cm, Private Collection
https://www.dorotheum.com/en/l/2897144/ and http://ellas2021.eu/gallery.html

It was for these children that we fought… paraphrasing the words of Yanni Makrigianni, 1794-1864, Greek Revolutionary Fighter of 1821! Celebrating the Greek Revolution of 1821 and remembering the children who probably suffered the most.

Messolonghi… **View of the location where Lord Byron died,** 1848
ESTOURMEL, Joseph d’, Comte. Album du Journal d’un Voyage en Orient, Paris, Hellenic Library – Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation
http://eng.travelogues.gr/item.php?view=39968

“The torch that was Missolonghi shed its light as far as Vasiladhi and Klisova and over the whole plain, and even reached us. The flashes of gunfire looked like a host of fireflies. From Missolonghi we heard the shrieks of women, the sound of gunfire, the explosion of powder magazines and mines, all combined in an indescribably fearful noise. The town was like a roaring furnace” remembers Nikolaos Kasomoulis (1795 – 1872), who took part, fought and survived the Exodus. I hope Perlberg’s Young Drummer Boy, so romantically groomed, successfully survived the tragedy… https://books.google.gr/books?id=GhCLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26-IA16&lpg=PA26-IA16&dq=%22The+flashes+of+gunfire+looked+like+a+host+of+fireflies.%22&source=bl&ots=sDTZ6TqHS3&sig=ACfU3U1jIfv4avEDAVvPpC9AfvJbcVkRmQ&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiE8qvu2bvvAhWDO-wKHTb_A5MQ6AEwAnoECAEQAw#v=onepage&q=%22The%20flashes%20of%20gunfire%20looked%20like%20a%20host%20of%20fireflies.%22&f=false

For our Youngsters… the National Historical Museum in Athens

**National Historical Museum** **of Greece –** The building was designed by Francois Boulanger to serve as the first Greek Parliament. Construction began in 1858 and ended in 1875. It served as the Nation’s Parliament until 1935 and became a museum in 1960. https://www.greece-is.com/national-historical-museum/

For celebratory mood and quality time with your youngster, you can VISIT the National Historical Museum site http://www.nhmuseum.gr/en and then go to http://www.nhmuseum.gr/el/ekpaideysi/ekpaideytiko-yliko/.

This is a “Colouring Page” Activity (in Greek BUT easy to understand and DO) on famous figures of the Greek War of Independence. It was inspired by the Exhibition The 1821 Greek War of Independence Retold in… Playmobil! The Activity is very EASY! http://www.nhmuseum.gr/el/ekpaideysi/ekpaideytiko-yliko/

To do the Colouring Activity Press on each picture you wish your child to colour – download it – print it – DONE! You can choose between heroes and heroines of the Greek War of Independence and celebrate an important moment in Greek History. From top to bottom, the Colouring Page Figures are: Theodoros Kolokotronis, Odysseas Androutsos, Laskarina Bouboulina, Konstantinos Kanaris, Manto Mavrogenous, Germanos, Metropolitan Paleon Patron, Andreas Lontos, Asimo Goura, Ioannis Makrigiannis, Domna Visvizi, Christos Kapsalis, Andreas Pipinos, Dimitrios Papanikolis

For our Youngsters… a List of Student Activities on the Greek Revolution of 1821 prepared by Greek Museums and Foundations… HERE!

For an easy to print Celebrating the Greek Revolution of 1821 Worksheet, please… Click HERE!

If you wish to learn more about the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the preparation for the Bicentennial Celebration in 2021, please VISIT the official Greece 1821-2021 Bicentennial site: https://www.greece2021.gr/en/ and/or https://www.greece2021.gr/

Boat of Greeks

March 5, 2021

by admin 1821-Greek Independence Day 19th century Art Art Greek Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Dionysis Tsokos**, 1820-1862
**Boat of Greeks,** 1844 to 1847, oil on canvas, 29×23 cm, Averoff Museum, Metsovo, Greece
https://www.averoffmuseum.gr/boat-of-greeks/?lang=en

“…Fill high the bowl with Samian wine! / On Suli’s rock, and Parga’s shore, / Exists the remnant of a line / Such as the Doric mothers bore; / And there, perhaps, some seed is sown, / The Heracleidan blood might own. / Trust not for freedom to the Franks— / They have a king who buys and sells; / In native swords and native ranks / The only hope of courage dwells: / But Turkish force and Latin fraud / Would break your shield, however broad….” Writes George Gordon Byron in The Isles of Greece and makes the best possible introduction for Dionysis Tsokos’s Boat of Geeks at the Averoff Museum in Metsovo. https://englishverse.com/poems/the_isles_of_greece

Dionysis Tsokos’s painting Boat of Geeks is closely connected to the fate of the small city of Parga on the Ionian Coast of Epirus. Parga, a small city/fortress, was always closely connected to the European political interests of the Ionian Islands. Since 1360 when the fortress of Parga was built with the help of the Normans who held, at the time the island of Corfu, the Pargians faced countless Ottoman attacks while they were under Venetian, French or British rule. In 1815 the inhabitants of the city of Parga rebelled against the French rule, under the instigation of the British, and a short period of British rule started. Seeing Parga as the stepping stone to achieving their final goal: to occupy the Ionian Islands, the British, in 1817, sold Parga to Ali Pasha for 150,000 pounds. https://www.kastra.eu/castleen.php?kastro=parga

**Edward Lear,** 1812-1888
**Parga,** *Journals of a Landscape painter in Albania etc*., London, Richard Bentley, 1851, 14×21 cm, Benaki Museum Library
https://eng.travelogues.gr/collection.php?view=283

What happened next is best described in the October 1819 edition of the Edinburgh Review… “As soon as the notice was given [of how much Ali was to be charged for their homeland] every family marched solemnly out of its dwelling, without tears or lamentation; and the men, preceded by their priests, and followed by their sons, proceeded to the sepulchres of their fathers, and silently unearthed and collected their remains, – which they placed upon a huge pile of wood which they had previously erected before one of their churches. They even took their arms in their hands, and, setting fire to the pile, stood motionless and silent around it, till the whole was consumed. During this melancholy ceremony, some of Ali’s troops, impatient for possession, approached the gates of the town; upon which a deputation of citizens was sent to inform our Governor, that if a single Infidel was admitted before the remains of their ancestors were secured from profanation, and they themselves, with their families, fairly embarked, they would all instantly put to death their wives and children, – and die with their arms in their hands, – and not without a bloody revenge on those who had bought and sold their country. Such a remonstrance, at such a moment, was felt and respected, as it ought by those to whom it was addressed. General Adam succeeded in stopping the march of the Mussulmans. The pile burnt out – and the people embarked in silence…” http://newsteadabbeybyronsociety.org/works/downloads/sale_parga.pdf and https://books.google.gr/books?id=7kNBAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA12&lpg=RA1-PA12&dq=Edinburgh+Review+Sale+of+Parga&source=bl&ots=hZxwnxM1hD&sig=ACfU3U3ac4JXKloQ18zhWLsbpAsGjXXTtQ&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjug-2Ly5jvAhVfQhUIHaLnBgkQ6AEwB3oECAkQAw#v=onepage&q=Edinburgh%20Review%20Sale%20of%20Parga&f=false pp. 22-23

Boat of Geeks by Dionysis Tsokos depicts the final act of Parga’s sale by the British to Ali Pasha… “a boat full of refugees – resistance fighters, a priest, and a woman – floundering on the waves as it heads for foreign shores. One gallant lad stands embracing the mast and holding the Greek flag, gazing intently at the fatherland he is abandoning, while the captain holds fast to the helm.” https://www.averoffmuseum.gr/boat-of-greeks/?lang=en

**Dionysis Tsokos**, 1820-1862
**The Flight from Parga,** after 1847, oil on canvas, 37×47 cm, E. Koutlidis Foundation Collection, National Gallery of Greece, Athens
https://www.nationalgallery.gr/en/painting-permanent-exhibition/painting/the-years-of-othon%E2%80%99s-reign/history-painting/the-flight-from-parga.html

Dionysis Tsokos created two paintings on the theme of Greeks fleeing Parga after the shocking 1819 British sale to Ali Pasha. The earliest, chronologically, of the two paintings, is today exhibited in the Averoff Museum at Metsovo, one of my favourite Art Museums in Greece, the second painting, dated a little later is part of the E. Koutlidis Collection and is exhibited in Athens at the National Gallery. For a Student “Compare and Contrast” Activity on Dionysis Tsokos’s paintings, please… Check HERE!

If you wish to learn more about the Greek War of Independence and the Bicentennial Celebrations in 2021, please VISIT the official Greece 1821-2021 Bicentennial site http://www.greece2021.gr, Twitter, https://twitter.com/Greece_2021, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Greece2021/, and Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/greece2021/?hl=el

Celebrating the Greek War of Independence

March 25, 2020

by admin with No Comment 1821-Greek Independence Day 19th century Art Social Studies Student Activities

***K. G. Papagiannaki,***
***The Greek Boy,*** *1837, oil on canvas, 0,28×0,21 cm, Benaki Museum, Athens*

It was for these children that we fought… Celebrating the Greek War of Independence …paraphrasing the words of Yanni Makrigianni, 1794-1864, Greek Revolutionary Fighter of 1821!

If you wish to learn more about the Greek War of Independence and the preparation for the Bicentennial Celebration in 2021, please VISIT the official Greece 1821-2021 Bicentennial site: https://www.greece2021.gr/en/ and/or https://www.greece2021.gr/

For our Youngsters…

This a Colouring Page Activity (in Greek BUT easy to understand and DO) on famous figures of the Greek War of Independence. It was inspired by the Exhibition The 1821 Greek War of Independence Retold in… Playmobil! Activity is very EASY! http://www.nhmuseum.gr/el/ekpaideysi/ekpaideytiko-yliko/

From top to bottom the Colouring Page Figures are: Theodoros Kolokotronis, Odysseas Androutsos, Laskarina Bouboulina, Konstantinos Kanaris, Manto Mavrogenous, Germanos, Metropolitan Paleon Patron, Andreas Lontos, Asimo Goura, Ioannis Makrigiannis, Domna Visvizi, Christos Kapsalis, Andreas Pipinos, Dimitrios Papanikolis

Colouring 1821-Greek War of Independence

For an easy to print Celebrating the Greek War of Independence Worksheet, please… check HERE!

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Posts in category: 1821-Greek Independence Day