Nikiforos Lytras

(Greek, 1832-1904)

Returning from the fair of Pendeli 20.5 x 25 cm.

Footnotes

Provenance
Georgios Stringos collection, Piraeus and thence by descent to the present owner.

Exhibited
Athens, Athens School of Fine Arts - Etaireia Filotechnon, Exhibition of Works by Nikiforos Lytras, April 1933, no. 59 (listed in the exhibition catalogue).

Literature
Nea Estia magazine, no. 23 (47), December 1, 1928, p. 1063 (mentioned).
Y. Kerofylas, Nikiforos Lytras, Patriarch of Modern Greek Painting, Filippotis editions, Athens 1997, p. 61, no. 76 (listed).
E. Bafouni - N. Melios, Georgios Stringos, IMTIIE editions, Piraeus 2006, p. 121 (shown in a b/w photograph).


Inspired by local traditions and customs deeply rooted in the Greek folk culture,¹ this wonderful vignette of rural life shows a family returning from a country fair at the foot of Mount Penteli, north of Athens.² Riding on a donkey, the father plays his long-necked lute, while the mother walks next to him holding her child on her shoulders. The figures are kept close to each other, adhering to the firm compositional structure championed by the masters of the Munich School, especially Karl von Piloty, under whom Lytras studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In terms of style, however, form is simplified, drawing loosens up and surfaces are handled with broader brushstrokes and heavier application of paint, pointing to the artist's ability to shift the centre of gravity in Greek art from the descriptive to the purely pictorial.

¹ As Lytras used to say "the customs of the Greek people brought national independence and must be protected like the apple of one's eye." See Y. Kerofylas, Nikiforos Lytras, Patriarch of Modern Greek Painting [in Greek], Filippotis editions, Athens 1997, p. 57.
² Hosted annually on the grounds of the Church of Holy Trinity on the slopes of Mount Penteli, the fair was attended by farmers and their families from the region of Attica, as well as pious worshippers from Athens, all in traditional local costumes. See X. Sochos, Album of Greek Artists - Nikiforos Lytras, Athens 1929.