Georgios Jakobides

(Greek, 1852-1932)

Drummer boy 53 x 37.5 cm.

Footnotes

Provenance
Glavanis collection, Volos, Greece and hence by descent to the present owner.


As the writer Pavlos Nirvanas once said of Jakobides, the miracle of childhood is not something anybody can capture on canvas. A child, with its flexible bone structure, fleeting form and mercurial fluidity is hardly a shape per se. It is liquid, nebulous, a play of light, an entity both imaginary and animate.¹

Drummer Boy is an isolated scene singled out from one of Jakobides's most famous and beloved pictures, namely Children's symphony formerly in the esteemed Loulis-Kraniotis collection, in which a group of children has set up an improvised orchestra in a country house interior. The fact that Jakobides chose this specific scene clearly indicates the importance he attached to its poignant expression, gesture and body language.² Although the well-groomed boy is shown from behind (note the marvellous play of light on his purple striped shirt) with his facial expression barely visible, the artist, nonetheless, managed to produce a picture that vibrates with energy and life, conveying the excitement children feel when making music with simple objects.

¹ See P. Nirvanas, "The Painter of Children" [in Greek], Pinakothiki journal, 12 (1912-13), 100-101.
² The same is true with the isolated figure of the Boy with watering can (National Bank of Greece collection) singled out from his equally famous Children's concert at the Athens National Gallery.