Nikiforos Lytras ( el, Νικηφόρος Λύτρας; 1832 – 13 June 1904) was a Greek painter. He was born in
Tinos
Tinos ( el, Τήνος ) is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos. It has a land area of and a 2011 census population of 8,636 inhabitants.
Tinos ...
and trained 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 ...
at the School of Arts. In 1860, he won a scholarship to Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Munich. After completing these studies, he became a professor at the School of Arts in 1866, a position he held for the rest of his life. He remained faithful to the precepts and principles of the
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 ...
, while paying greatest attention both to ethnographic themes and portraiture. His most famous portrait was of the royal couple, Otto and Amalia, and his most well-known landscape a depiction of the region of
Lavrio
Laurium or Lavrio ( ell, Λαύριο; grc, Λαύρειον (later ); before early 11th century BC: Θορικός ''Thorikos''; from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greec ...
.
Biography
Nikiforos Lytras was the son of a popular
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
sculptor. In 1850, at the age of eighteen years he went to Athens to study in the School of Arts. He studied painting with
Ludwig Thiersch
Ludwig Thiersch (April 12, 1825 in Munich – May 10, 1909"Thiersch", ''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon'') was a German painter, primarily of mythological and religious subjects and especially of ecclesiastical art, also influential in Greece.
...
and Raffaelo Ceccoli (c.1800-after 1860). After graduating in 1856, he began teaching an elementary course in writing.
In 1860 with a Greek government's scholarship he went to Munich to study in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts where after some time, he succeeded in being accepted into the classes of
Karl von Piloty
Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, noted for his historical subjects, and recognised as the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany.
Life and work
Piloty was born in Munich. His fa ...
. In 1862 after King Otto was exiled the scholarship was no longer available to Lytra so the expenses were undertaken by the ambassador of Greece in Vienna
Simon Sinas
Simon von Sina or Simon Sinas ( el, Σίμων Σίνας; 1810–1876) was a Greek-Austrian banker, aristocrat, benefactor and diplomat. He was one of the most important benefactors of the Greek nation together with Georgios Sinas.
Biography
Sim ...
. In the summer of 1865 before his return to Greece he met Nikolaos Gyzis in Munich. There they visited and studied art masterpieces.
Following his return to Athens, Lytras became professor at the
Athens School of Fine Arts
The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA; el, Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, ΑΣΚΤ, literally: Highest School of Fine Arts), is Greece's premier Art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students ...
in the department of Painting and he taught until the time of his death, some 38 years. Spyridon Vikatos was one of his pupils.
For four years, starting in 1873, he travelled to
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
and
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
with Gyzis during which he produced a number of Orientalist works.
In 1879 he married Irene Kyriakidi daughter of a tradesman from Smyrna and they had six children. His son
Nikolaos Lytras
Nikolaos Lytras ( el, Νικόλαος Λύτρας; Athens, 2 May 1883 – 1 December 1927)Brie ...
followed in his footsteps by also studying at the Munich academy of Fine Arts and also heading the Athens School of Art. In later life he founded the 'Art Group', which many years later in 1919 exhibited in Paris, with participants including the engraver
Demetrios Galanis
Demetrios Galanis ( el, Δημήτριος Γαλάνης, 17 May 1879, Athens – 20 March 1966, Paris) was an early twentieth-century Greece, Greek artist and friend of Picasso. In 1920, the year he completed his ''Seated Nude'' (private coll ...
, a friend of Derain, Braque and Picasso and a member of the French Academy. The nineteenth-century painters
Ioannis Altamouras
Ioannis Altamouras ( Greek: Ιωάννης Αλταμούρας) (1852, in Florence or Naples – 1878, in Spetses) was a Greek painter of the 19th century famous for his paintings of seascapes.Periklis Pantazis (both of whom died young) may be regarded as forerunners of this group.
Nikiforos Lytras died at the age of 72 in 1904, after a short illness that is believed to have been caused by his colours' chemical substances. After his death
Georgios Jakobides
Georgios Jakobides (Γεώργιος Ιακωβίδης; 11 January 1853 – 13 December 1932) was a painter and one of the main representatives of the Greek artistic movement of the Munich School. He founded and was the first curator of the Nati ...
took his place at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
Art
Lytras oeuvre falls into distinct periods. During the time that Lytras was Piloty's student he focused in history painting. His subjects were inspired from
Greek Mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
and Greek history. After his return to Greece he started to paint portraits and every day life scenes. During this period, he wrote that "The painter should devote himself to genre painting, and to subjects that move, delight, and educate the people".Sochos, Xenofon, ''Leukoma Ellinon Kallitechnon-Nikiforos Lytras'', lbum of Greek Artists-Nikiforos Lytras Athens, Typographion Paraskevas, 1929, p. 40 His trips in Minor Asia and Egypt enriched his paintings with Oriental themes, including the people and their lifestyles. In the closing years of his life, he painted many scenes about aging, loneliness and the fear of death.
Lytras was one of the most famous painters in Athens. He participated and honored in many exhibitions: at the
Zappeion
The Zappeion ( el, Ζάππειον Μέγαρο, Záppeion Mégaro, ) is a large, palatial building next to the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings and ceremonies, both official and priva ...
exhibitions, as well as in exhibitions in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
(1855, 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900) and in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
(1873). Also as he was the official portraitist in Athens and he painted many members of the upper class of his time.
His contribution in art was conceived also through his courses in the Athens School of Fine Arts. Although devoted to the school of
Academic Realism
Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie ...
and remaining uninfluenced by
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, he marked Greek art history in his own way.
In 1903 he was decorated with the Golden Cross of the
Order of the Redeemer
The Order of the Redeemer ( el, Τάγμα του Σωτήρος, translit=Tágma tou Sotíros), also known as the Order of the Saviour, is an order of merit of Greece. The Order of the Redeemer is the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the ...
. In 1909 – after his death – some of his paintings were presented in Piloty's School (1885–1886) in Munich. In 1933 in Athens School of Fine Arts an exhibition with Lytras' 186 paintings were presented.
File:Lytras nikiforos antigone polynices.jpeg, ''
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & R ...
National Gallery of Athens
The National Gallery ( el, Εθνική Πινακοθήκη, ''Ethniki Pinakothiki'') is an art museum located on Vasilissis Sofias avenue in the Pangrati district, Athens, Greece. It is devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century ...
.
File:Lytras Nikiforos sailor smoking.jpg, ''Sailor smoking''
File:Lytras - Execution of Gregory V.jpg, ''Execution of
Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople
Gregory V ( el, , born , ''Georgios Angelopoulos''; 1746) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1797 to 1798, from 1806 to 1808, and from 1818 to 1821. He was responsible for much restoration work to the Patriarchal Cathedral of S ...
''
File:Lytras Nikiforos Carols.jpeg, ''Carols''
File:The burning of the Turkish flagship by Kanaris.png, ''The blowing up of Nasuh Ali Pasha's flagship by Kanaris''
File:Lytras Nikiforos prosmoni.jpg, ''The Waiting''
References
Further reading
* ''The Greek Painters from the 19th Century to the 20th Century'', Volume One, Melissa, 1974