Year 1861 (1861) Artist Theodoros Vryzakis | Medium oil on canvas Created 1861 | |
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Dimensions 155 cm × 213 cm (61 in × 84 in) Location National Gallery, Athens Similar Behold the Bridegroom Arriving, Concert of Angels, The Art Gallery of Jan Gilde, The Entombment of Christ, Greece on the Ruins of Missol | ||
The Lord Byron reception at Missolonghi is an oil painting created by Theodore Vryzakis in 1861. It is exhibited at the National Gallery, Athens.
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Description
It depicts the arrival of the English philhellene Lord Byron at Missolonghi and his welcome. He appears to be coming from the port, accompanied by his friend Edward John Trelawny and numerous soldiers who are cheering. The local authorities and Alexandros Mavrokordatos, who had invited him, welcome him.
Analysis
Art historians point to the stiff, lifeless and rigid forms of the figures. Specifically, Stelios Lydakis calls them: "dummies like steel". There are also borrowings from other models, such as the bishop, whose form is a variation of the Germanos III of Old Patras of Peter von Hess. The naive dimension and the folklore of the style and the patterns in this table, also point out the critics: abuse of dress and oplografikis storytelling, theatrical gestures and pompous attitudes. With overt symbolism, the priest behind the bishop keeps a picture of the resurrection of Christ was a symbol of the resurrection of Greece, and in the distance a ruined minaret seems to be showing the expulsion of the Turks. As for Lord Byron is illustrated by way of messiah. It is basically another fable its composition dictated by philhellenic demand issues from the national liberation struggle of the Greeks, to massive acclaim.