Panagiotis Doxaras ( el, Παναγιώτης Δοξαράς) (1662–1729) also known as Panayiotis Doxaras, was an author and painter. He was a prolific member of the Heptanese School. He was influenced by early members of the movement namely: Elias Moskos, Theodoros Poulakis,

Stephanos Tzangarolas Stephanos Tzangarolas ( el, Στέφανος Τζαγκαρόλας, 1660-1675 – 1710) also known as Stephano Tzangarola. He was a Greek painter during the late Cretan Renaissance. He migrated from Crete to the island of Corfu. He is a me ...

Spyridon Sperantzas Spyridon Sperantzas ( el, Σπυρίδων Σπεράντζας, 1733 – 1818) was a Greek painter. He flourished during the Greek Neoclassical era and the Modern Greek Enlightenment in art also known as Neo-Hellenikos Diafotismos. Beca ...

and Victor. The Heptanese School evolved during the Baroque period and continued into the Late Baroque or

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

. Doxaras’s son

Nikolaos Doxaras Nikolaos Doxaras ( el, Νικόλαος Δοξαράς; 1706/10 – 2 March 1775). He was a Greek painter and teacher. His father was famous painter Panagiotis Doxaras. Panagiotis Doxaras was the father of the Greek Rococo and the Modern Greek ...

continued the artistic movement into the Neoclassical era. Both Panagiotis and his son

refined the school. The school was heavily influenced by the Venetian Style. The Heptanese School also influenced Italian painting. Other artists Doxaras influenced were

Nikolaos Kantounis Nikolaos Kantounis or Kandounis (Greek: Νικόλαος Καντούνης; 1767–1834) was a Greek priest, painter and teacher who did not follow the traditional Maniera Greca. His teacher was the famous painter Nikolaos Koutouzis. He began to ...

. Panagioti’s teacher was famous painter

Leos Moskos Leo or Leos Moskos ( el, Λέος Μόσκος, 1620/30 – 1690) was a painter and educator. There were two other painters named Moskos active around the same period, Elias Moskos and Ioannis Moskos, who may have been his relatives. Indeed, ...

. He studied with him while he was in Venice. Doxaras painted notable portraits of

Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg Marshal Johann Matthias Reichsgraf von der Schulenburg (8 August 1661 – 14 March 1747) was a German aristocrat and general of Brandenburg-Prussian background who served in the Saxon and Venetian armies in the early 18th century and found a seco ...

. He introduced Maniera Italiana to the Heptanese School drastically changing the style from the

Maniera Greca Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but pa ...

. He is considered the father of the Greek

and the

Modern Greek Enlightenment The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment. Origins The Greek Enlightenment w ...

in art.*

History

Panayiotis was born in a small village named Koutifari close to

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regi ...

in the Peloponnese region. His father's name was Nicholas. Panayiotis family moved to Zakynthos when he was a young age. His parents signed an agreement with famous painter

to teach him painting. He traveled with the artist to Venice. Panayiotis married into the Bon family she was catholic. They had eight children. He had six daughters and two sons. His two sons Nicholas and Demetrios became famous painters. By age thirty, he was a soldier. He fought for the Venetian Empire. He fought in the Peloponnese region for five years against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. In 1699, he traveled to Venice and studied Italian painting for five years. He started to become a theoretical painter. He became interested in the science of painting. He settled in

with his family until 1715. When the area was invaded he fled with his family to

Lefkada Lefkada ( el, Λευκάδα, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas ( Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of G ...

and in 1720 he traveled back to Venice. While Panayiotis was in Venice he translated books into Greek from Italian. He translated ''Trattato de la pittura de Leonardo da Vinci.'' Panayiotis admired

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

and some of his works resemble Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks. He also translated the works of Leon-Battista Alberti, Andrea Pozzo, and a massive catalog with the most famous painters in the world. His book ''Common Teaching (Keni Didaskalia)'' was inspired by Marco Boschini's, ''Le Ricche Minere della Pittura Veneziana.'' In 1721, the Venetian government gave Panayiotis land in

, but in 1722 he preferred to move to Corfu. While he was in Corfu. Panayiotis published his book ''Common Teaching (Keni Didaskalia)'' in 1726. One year later he painted Agios Spiridonas church. He also painted the ceiling of Panagia Faniromeni in Zakynthos. The work was a masterpiece resembling Michelangelo's

Sistine Chapel ceiling The Sistine Chapel ceiling ( it, Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican ...

. He died in 1729. Panayiotis is considered one of the masters of theoretical painting in the 18th century. He inspired many Greek and Italian painters.

Work

Panayioti's work signals a departure from Greek painting, namely the

Cretan school Cretan School describes an important school of icon painting, under the umbrella of post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete was under Venetian rule during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax after the Fall of Constantinople, becomi ...

and

maniera greca Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but pa ...

towards

Western European Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

art. Many Greek artists already started this transition namely: Ioannis Permeniates, Thomas Bathas,

Michael Damaskinos Michael Damaskenos or Michail Damaskenos ( el, Μιχαήλ Δαμασκηνός, 1530/35–1592/93) was a leading post-Byzantine Cretan painter. He is a major representative of the Cretan School of painting that flourished in the 16th and 1 ...

Theodore Poulakis Theodore Poulakis ( el, Θεόδωρος Πουλάκης; 1622–1692) was a Greek Renaissance painter and teacher. He is considered the father of the Heptanese School and one of the most prolific painters of Venetian Crete. Poulakis was a me ...

and Elias Moskos to name a few. Panayiotis admired the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

masters particularly

, whose book ''Art of painting'' (

Trattato della pittura ''A Treatise on Painting'' (''Trattato della pittura'') is a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's writings entered in his notebooks under the general heading "On Painting". The manuscripts were begun in Milan while Leonardo was under the service of ...

) he translated into

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 ...

. In 1726, he wrote the famous, albeit controversial and debated theoretical text ''On painting (Περί ζωγραφίας)''. He addressed the need for

Greek art Greek art began in the Cycladic and Minoan civilization, and gave birth to Western classical art in the subsequent Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods (with further developments during the Hellenistic Period). It absorbed influences of E ...

to depart from Byzantine

towards

art. The article was originally published after Doxaras's death in 1871. His article is debated among scholars namely in Greece. He was one of the first Greek painters that tried to realistically depict human faces in religious themes. Doxaras also introduced oil painting into Greek iconography. He tried to replace the old method of mixing pigments with egg yolk. He painted the roof of Agios Spyridonas in Corfu. He was inspired by the works of Paolo Veronese. The images faded and in the middle of the 19th century and were replaced with newer ones painted by Nikolaos Aspiotis.Λάμπρου, Σπ.: Συμπληρωματικαί ειδήσεις περί του ζωγράφου Παναγιώτου Δοξαρά Ν. *Ελληνομνήμων ή Σύμμικτα Ελληνικά, τ. 1, 1843 Doxaras also painted some portraits, his most famous portrait was that of Count Graf von der Schulenburg, leader of the Venetian army and defendant of Corfu, which he signed Panagiotis Doxaras, Lacedaemonian Horseman, 1725, May 15th (Hellenomnemon, p. 19).

Gallery

File:Panagiotis Doxaras Schulenburg.png, Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg File:Panagiotis Doxaras Schulenburg Older.png, Matthias von der Schulenburg File:Αρχάγγελος Μιχαήλ, Παναγιώτης Δοξαράς.jpg, Archangel Michael File:Corfu town 74.JPG, Saint Spyridon Church File:Doxaras-panagiotis-Virgin-Mary.jpeg, Virgin Mary File:DoxarasPanagiotisHolyFamily.jpeg, Holy Family File:Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens, Greece (8384486504).jpg, ''The liturgy of St Spyridon'', Byzantine museum, Athens File:Panagiotis Doxaras Alexander the Great.png, Alexander the Great

Litarary works

*Trattato dela Pittura de Leonardo da Vinci ''Greek Translation'' *On painting (Περί ζωγραφίας) 1726

Notable works

*Christ Megas ''Lady of the Angels,

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; el, Ζάκυνθος, Zákynthos ; it, Zacinto ) or Zante (, , ; el, Τζάντε, Tzánte ; from the Venetian form) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Z ...

'' *Saint Demetrios ''The Museum of Christian Art

'' * The Holy Family (Doxaras) ''National Gallery of Athens''

References