Dionysios Tsokos (Greek: Διονύσιος Τσόκος; c. 1814/1820 in

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...

– 1862 in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

) was a Greek painter; one of the first to gain recognition in the post-Ottoman period. He is mostly known for portraits and historical scenes which combine elements from the Heptanese School with Italian styles.

Biography

His parents came from

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

. He took his first painting lessons from

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

,Brief biography
@ the National Gallery of Greece. who was living in exile on a small island near

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...

. Kantounis not only taught him to paint, but infused him with nationalistic feelings as well. His activities over the next few years are unclear, but by 1844, he was in Venice, attending classes taught by Ludovico Lipparini, who first suggested that Tsokos concentrate on portraits and

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

. In 1845, he had his first public exhibition at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. He returned to Greece in 1847, settling in Athens, where he created a series of popular paintings related to the

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

and the years immediately after. From 1850 to 1860, he was commissioned to paint portraits of many prominent personalities, including professors at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

. In 1856, he was appointed professor of design and painting at the "Arsakeio", a school operated by the "Society for Education". That same year, he held a major exhibition of his portraits at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He died under mysterious circumstances in 1862, the year that King Otto was overthrown. At the time, he was working on a commission to produce portraits of heroes from the War of Independence. The finished portraits are in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

. The unfinished sketches are in the collection of the Benaki Museum.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsokos, Dionysios 19th-century births 1862 deaths 19th-century Greek painters People from Zakynthos Greek portrait painters History painters Greek people of the Greek War of Independence Painters of the Heptanese school Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia alumni