Georgios Roilos ( el, Γεώργιος Ροϊλός; 1867 – 28 August 1928) was one of the most important and influential

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

painters of the late 19th-early 20th century. He belonged to the so-called "

Munich School Munich School ( el, Σχολή του Μονάχου) is the name given to a group of painters who worked in Munich or were trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Munich (german: Münchner Akademie der Bildenden Künste) between 1850 and 191 ...

". His major works include historical topics, portraits, and scenes of everyday life. One of his most famous paintings is “The Poets”, which depicts some of the most important representatives of the New Athenian school of poetry, also known as the Generation of 1880.Grove Art Online
/ref>

Art studies

Born in

Stemnitsa Stemnitsa ( el, Στεμνίτσα) is a mountain village in the municipal unit of Trikolonoi, Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. It was the seat of the former municipality Trikolonoi. Stemnitsa is a traditional settlement and is considered one of t ...

, Roilos began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Athens from 1880 to 1887. In 1888 he received a scholarship to study for one year in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, and in 1890 went to study at the Julian Academy in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Career

In 1894 he returned to Athens and one year later, in 1895, he was appointed to the Chair of sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. In 1903 he went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and became a member of the London Artist Association, and later to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, where he was elected a member of the city's Academy of Arts. In the period between 1910 and 1927 he was the incumbent of the Chair of Oil Painting at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. He was among the first to introduce impressionism into Greek painting, thus subverting the academic style of the "Munich School". He was a teacher and early mentor of, among others,

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

, who, in his memoirs, commends the outstanding quality of Roilos's painting, which he deems superior to that of

Giovanni Fattori Giovanni Fattori (September 6, 1825August 30, 1908) was an Italian artist, one of the leaders of the group known as the Macchiaioli. He was initially a painter of historical themes and military subjects. In his middle years, inspired by the Barbi ...

. He died in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

on 28 August 1928.

Family

Descendant of Georgios Roilos is Panagiotis Roilos, George Seferis, Professor of Modern Greek Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard.

Notes

References

, ''Memorie della mia vita'', Milan 1962. * Chrysanthos Chrestou, ''He Hellenike Zographike 1832–1922'', Athens 1982. {{DEFAULTSORT:Roilos, Georgios 1867 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Greek painters 20th-century Greek painters Munich School People from Arcadia, Peloponnese