Stamatis Voulgaris or Stamati Bulgari ( el, Σταμάτης Βούλγαρης), was a painter, an architect and the first
urban planner
An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning.
An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...
of modern Greece. He was born in
Lefkimmi
Lefkimmi ( el, Λευκίμμη, also known as ''Alefkimmo'') is a town and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is part of the municipality South ...
in the island of
Corfu,
Venetian Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands were an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. The conquest of the islands took place gradually. The first to be acquired was Cythera and the neighboring islet ...
in 1774, and died in 1842. He had been also granted French nationality.
Life
Youth
Stamatis Voulgaris was born in
Lefkimmi
Lefkimmi ( el, Λευκίμμη, also known as ''Alefkimmo'') is a town and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is part of the municipality South ...
, on the island of
Corfu in the
Ionian Islands (then a
Venetian possession), in 1774. His parents were Alexandros Voulgaris of Aloysios and Loukia Pandis. From the age of seven, he attended school at St. Justine's monastery in Garitsa, where he learned his first letters. There, he was a classmate of
Ioannis Kapodistrias
Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: ...
, the future governor of Greece. An interesting incident led him to his decision to become an urban planner. During the
Russian-Turkish siege of 1798–1799, while in the vicinity of the
San Giacomo theater in Corfu, a cannon ball fired from a Russian vessel fell beside young Voulgaris without immediately exploding. He immediately grabbed the fuse and then neutralized it, thus saving the theater and a whole French military detachment which passed nearby with heavy weapons and ammunition. French General
Louis François Jean Chabot, a friend of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, to honor his bravery, enlisted him in the French army.
When the French left, the young man followed them to Paris, where he studied
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
in a military academy.
In 1808, he was appointed lieutenant of the Engineers. At the same time, he studied at the ''
Collège des Quatre-Nations
The Collège des Quatre-Nations ("College of the Four Nations"), also known as the Collège Mazarin after its founder, was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris. It was founded through a bequest by the Cardinal Mazarin. At his d ...
'' (which now houses the headquarters of the ''
Institut de France
The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...
''). He became an engineer geographer and an extraordinary designer in the service of the ministry's ''
Dépôt de la Guerre The Dépôt de la Guerre was France's military archive and cartography department, set up in 1688 under Louis XIV and expanded during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
History
Established by François Michel Le Tellier de Louvo ...
'' (a depository of maps and archives). He participated in several military missions, notably between 1810 and 1814, as an employee at the General Staff of the governor of the Ionian Islands (now again
under French rule), General
François-Xavier Donzelot
Comte François-Xavier Donzelot (7 January 1764, in Mamirolle – 11 June 1843) was a French general and a Governor of the Ionian Islands and Martinique. He was the son of François Donzelot and Jeanne–Baptiste Maire and had a brother nam ...
. After the French surrendered the Islands in 1814, he was arrested by the English and imprisoned in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. When he was released, he undertook a new special mission in
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
and
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, then was recalled to France to fight at the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
on 18 June 1815. After Napoleon's defeat, he was removed from the army by the
Bourbon Restoration, then was reinstated and raised to the rank of
captain of the General Staff. On 30 January 1817, he was officially naturalized as a French citizen by order of
King Louis XVIII.
Barbizon School
![Portrait du peintre Stamati Bulgari, assis, devant son chevalet - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Portrait_du_peintre_Stamati_Bulgari%2C_assis%2C_devant_son_chevalet_-_Jean-Baptiste_Camille_Corot.jpg)
Voulgaris followed several painting courses in parallel with his studies, in particular in the atelier of the renown painter
Jacques-Louis David.
He then became part, with his fellow student, the famous painter
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...
, of the first members of a whole new generation of young
neo-classical painters from the 1820s, in David's suite, later called the
School of Barbizon. This colony of
landscape artists
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...
(called the "open airists"), grouping painters such as
Charles-François Daubigny
Charles-François Daubigny ( , , ; 15 February 181719 February 1878) was a French painter, one of the members of the Barbizon school, and is considered an important precursor of impressionism.
He was also a prolific printmaker, mostly in etchin ...
,
Théodore Rousseau
Étienne Pierre Théodore Rousseau (April 15, 1812December 22, 1867) was a French painter of the Barbizon school.
Life
Youth
He was born in Paris, France in a bourgeois family.
At first he received a basic level of training, but soon display ...
,
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism ...
or
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...
, were coming together a few kilometers from Paris to work in the
forest of Fontainebleau
The forest of Fontainebleau (french: Forêt de Fontainebleau, or ''Forêt de Bière'', meaning "forest of heather") is a mixed deciduous forest lying southeast of Paris, France. It is located primarily in the arrondissement of Fontainebleau ...
which was for them a source of inspiration.
Voulgaris and Corot thus lived together in the village of
Chailly-en-Bière
Chailly-en-Bière () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
Painters Claude Monet and Frédéric Bazille spent time there together in 1865, and Bazille painted Monet in his work '' Th ...
from July 1821. Corot drew several portraits of Voulgaris, "''in his bed''" or "''sitting in front of his easel''" (he wrote at the bottom of the latter with a graphite stylus: "''Stamati Bulgari in rage with reason''"). Voulgaris also painted in 1821, in his ''Souvenirs'' (published in 1835),
[Stamatis Voulgaris, ]
Souvenirs de Stamati Bulgari, Chef de bataillon au Corps Royal d'État-major, en retraite
', (Gallica – BnF), A. Pihan de La Forest (Paris), 1835. a literary painting of this forest of Fontainebleau which used to inspire him with a "''meditative and religious feeling''". This description is considered to be the very first known of this colony of artists.
Spain expedition and travel to the Antilles
In 1823 he fought in the 3rd Corps of the Pyrenees Army during the
Spanish military expedition led by France against the Spanish liberals to restore
King Ferdinand VII of Spain to his throne. On the occasion of this campaign, he wrote two chapters in his ''Souvenirs'' from the
Alhambra Palace in
Granada.
In December 1825, he requested to be attached to the staff of Lieutenant-General Henri Baudrand to accompany him for an inspection of the engineering service in
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...
, in
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
and in
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
, where he met again General Donzelot (the former governor of the Ionian Islands), now governor of the island. Voulgaris twice suffered from
tropical fever. He returned to France in August 1826 and devoted a chapter of his ''Souvenirs'' to this journey.
Morea expedition and urban planning in Greece
Since 1821, the
Greek War of Independence was raging in Greece, which had not left Voulgaris indifferent: in 1825 he wrote in his ''Souvenirs'': "''Grecs, aux armes! aux armes!''",
after learning of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
's death at
Missolonghi
Missolonghi or Messolonghi ( el, Μεσολόγγι, ) is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis ...
. In October 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias, recently elected as the first governor of independent Greece, went to Paris to ask the French government for advisers and French army officers to organise the army of the
new Greek state. On the recommendation of the French Ministry of War, Voulgaris and three other officers (the captains of artillery
Jean-Henri-Pierre-Augustin Pauzié, of the
topographic
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...
service
Pierre Peytier, and of the engineers
Auguste-Théodore Garnot) were sent to Greece in 1828 to train young Greek military engineers.
[Michel Sivignon, Université Paris X – Nanterre, ]
Les enseignements de la carte de Grèce à l’échelle de 1/200.000 (publiée en 1852)
' (Pergamos – Digital Library of the University of Athens (UoA)). Communication presented in the seminar of Gythion-Areopolis Lakonias « ''Voyageurs et expéditions scientifiques: témoignages sur l'espace et la société de Mani'' », 4–7 Nov 1993 and published in « ''Mani. Témoignages sur l’espace et la société. Voyageurs et expéditions scientifiques (15°-19° siècle)'' », Athens, Institut d’Études Néo-helléniques, 1996, p. 435-445. They were all four attached to the general staff of
General Maison, commander-in-chief of the
Morea military expedition, whose mission was to liberate the Peloponnese from the Turkish-Egyptian occupation troops of
Ibrahim Pasha. The artillery captain Pauzié founded the Artillery School (Σχoλή Πυρoβoλικoύ) and then the
Central Military Academy of the Evelpides (Κεντρική Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων) in 1828 on the model of the French
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
. Captain Peytier drew the first modern
map of the Peloponnese.
Kapodistrias appreciated the expertise of Voulgaris. The two men met first in Italy in
Ancona
Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...
, and then embarked together aboard the frigate
HMS ''Warspite'' for
Nafplio
Nafplio ( ell, Ναύπλιο) is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece and it is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important touristic destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the ...
in Greece, where they arrived on 7 January 1828. Kapodistrias asked Voulgaris to conduct a study on the search for a suitable location in the city to build a colony for war refugees. Allocation of other urban plans followed, such as the urban planning of the cities of Nafplio (historic center and suburb of Prónoia),
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
and
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
...
, in collaboration with Captain Garnot.
[Jacques Mangeart, ]
Souvenirs de la Morée: recueillis pendant le séjour des Français dans le Peloponèse
', Igonette; Paris, 1830.
![Map Patras Stamatis Voulgaris 1829](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Map_Patras_Stamatis_Voulgaris_1829.jpg)
Yet, the most important urban planning mission of Voulgaris was the planning of the city of
Patras in 1829, on Kapodistrias' order.
He arrived there on 5 December 1828 accompanied by Captain Auguste-Théodore Garnot.
The Turkish-Egyptian troops of Ibrahim Pasha had left only ruins in Patras. They had destroyed the houses, burned the gardens, uprooted all the trees and demolished the ramparts of the city fortress.
Voulgaris specifically proposed to erect the modern city on the seaside, which was then a freer and more extensive area. The city, with a geometric composition, took the form of a large parallelogram bordering the coastal area and of a second ending at the periphery of the old town. Seventeen vertical and wide uphill streets intersected, at right angles, eight other horizontal streets, thus dividing the city into a hundred large blocks of buildings.
He also planned to build nine symmetrical public squares, quays, vast and long boulevards or avenues bordered by trees and perfectly ventilated, fountains, arcades, green areas round the
Patras Castle
The Patras Fortress ( el, Κάστρο Πατρών) was built around the mid-6th century A.D above the ruins of the ancient acropolis of the city of Patras, on a low outlying hill of the Panachaiko Mountain and ca. 800 m from the sea. The castle c ...
and three main doors which would open on the roads to
Gastouni
Gastouni ( el, Γαστούνη) is a town and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pineios, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has ...
,
Kalavryta
Kalavryta ( el, Καλάβρυτα) is a town and a municipality in the mountainous east-central part of the regional unit of Achaea, Greece. The town is located on the right bank of the river Vouraikos, south of Aigio, southeast of Patras and ...
and Corinth.
Voulgaris also wanted to cover out of his own pocket the financial costs for tree planting in Patras.
However, the original plan was not fully implemented, because on the one hand the
kodjabashis
The kodjabashis ( el, κοτζαμπάσηδες, kotzabasides; singular κοτζάμπασης, ''kotzabasis''; sh, kodžobaša, kodžabaša; from tr, kocabaṣı, hocabaṣı) were local Christian notables in parts of the Ottoman Balkans, most ...
(notables and primates) and the local property owners put Governor Kapodistrias under pressure to prevent any change, and on the other hand state finances were not sufficient to achieve Voulgaris' visionary plan: in 1830, the 5 symmetrical squares he had designed in the parallelogram bordering the coastal area were reduced to 2 only, including the central square dedicated to democracy (currently
Vasileos Georgiou I Square) and concord (currently
Vasilissis Olgas Square).
After handing over the city's plans to Governor Kapodistrias, Voulgaris joined the troops of the regular Greek army, then commanded by the governor's brother,
Augustinos Kapodistrias
Count Augustinos Ioannis Maria Kapodistrias ( el, Αυγουστίνος Ιωάννης Μαρία Καποδίστριας, 1778–1857) was a Greek soldier and politician. He was born in Corfu.Continental Greece
Continental Greece ( el, Στερεά Ελλάδα, Stereá Elláda; formerly , ''Chérsos Ellás''), colloquially known as Roúmeli (Ρούμελη), is a traditional geographic region of Greece. In English, the area is usually called Central ...
. Captain Voulgaris was responsible in particular for drawing the plan of the siege of
Lepanto (Nafpaktos) and the direction of its works.
In April 1829 the siege ended and the city was taken over from the Turks. Voulgaris indicated in his ''Souvenirs'' that "''this important conquest brought that of Missolonghi (in May), where ended, with this Greek expedition, my military career.''"
Last years in Corfu
In August 1830, Voulgaris, sick, returned to France and was raised in 1831 to the rank of ''
chef de bataillon
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
''. In 1838, he retired to his native Corfu, in the village of Potamos near
Lefkimmi
Lefkimmi ( el, Λευκίμμη, also known as ''Alefkimmo'') is a town and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is part of the municipality South ...
, where he died in 1842. In his will, he left money to various friends and relatives, and, moreover, to the French Consulate to distribute to the French indigents of Corfu.
[(Nº 19,587) ''ORDONNANCE DU ROI (contre-signée par le garde des sceaux, ministre de la justice et des cultes) qui autorise le ministre des affaires étrangères à accepter la disposition faite par M. Stamati Bulgari, chef de bataillon en retraite, dans son testament, en date du 12 juillet 1842, au profit des Français indigents qui arriveraient à Corfou ; pour, ladite disposition, être exécutée conformément aux intentions du testateur. (Paris, 19 Mai 1845.)'', p.896, in Bulletin des lois de la République Française, Volume 27, Éditeur Imprimerie nationale des lois, 1845.] He was:
Decorations
*
Knight of the Legion of Honour.
*
Knight of the Order of Saint-Louis.
Publications
* Stamatis Voulgaris, ''Examen moral des principaux tableaux de la galerie du Luxembourg en 1818, et considérations sur l'état actuel de la peinture en France, par M. Stamati Bulgari'', (Gallica – BnF), Paris, 1827.
* Stamatis Voulgaris, ''Notice sur le comte Jean Capodistrias, Président de la Grèce, suivie d'un extrait de sa correspondance'' ; ''par Stamati Bulgari, Chef de bataillon au Corps Royal d’État-major'', Delaunay, Paris, 1832.
* Stamatis Voulgaris, ''Souvenirs de Stamati Bulgari, Chef de bataillon au Corps Royal d'État-major, en retraite'', (Gallica – BnF), A. Pihan de La Forest, Paris, 1835.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voulgaris, Stamatis
1779 births
1842 deaths
18th-century Greek people
19th-century Greek people
Greek urban planners
Greek architects
Artists from Corfu
Ioannis Kapodistrias
History of Patras
French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
French rule in the Ionian Islands (1807–1814)
Greek expatriates in France
French engineers
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Knights of the Order of Saint Louis