Spyridon or Spyros Vikatos (; 24 September 1878 – 6 June 1960) was a Greek painter and professor. He is considered one of the later members of the Munich School.

Life

Spyridon Vikatos was born in

Argostoli Argostoli (, Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capi ...

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 ...

, in 1878. AHe was assisted by the

Archbishop of Athens The Archbishopric of Athens () is a Greek Orthodox archiepiscopal see based in the city of Athens, Greece. It is the senior see of Greece, and the seat of the autocephalous Church of Greece. Its incumbent (since 2008) is Ieronymos II of Athens. ...

Germanos Kalligas to study painting at the

Athens School of Fine Arts The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA; , ΑΣΚΤ) is a Greek higher education institution, specializing in the visual arts. History The Athens School of Fine Arts was established on 12 January 1837, known as the ''School for the Arts''. In the ...

as a student of

Nikiforos Lytras Nikiforos Lytras (; 1832 – 13 June 1904) was a Greek painter. He was born in Tinos and trained in Athens at the School of Arts. In 1860, he won a scholarship to Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Munich. After completing these studies, he became a ...

and

Spyridon Prosalentis Spyridon Prosalentis (; Corfu, 1830 – Athens, 1895) was a Greek portrait painter of the Heptanese school. His first name is sometimes seen as Spyros. Biography Prosalentis was descended from a noble Byzantine family, who fled to areas under th ...

. After his graduation Vikatos earned a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

and moved to Germany where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under

Nikolaos Gyzis Nikolaos Gyzis ( ; ; 1 March 1842 – 4 January 1901) is considered one of Greece's most important 19th century painters. He was most famous for his work ''Eros and the Painter'', his first genre painting. It was auctioned in May 2006 at Bonhams ...

and

Ludwig von Löfftz Ludwig von Löfftz (21 June 1845 – 3 December 1910) was a German genre and landscape painter. Biography He was born at Darmstadt. He was a pupil of August von Kreling and Karl Raupp at Nuremberg, then of Wilhelm von Diez at the Academy ...

. He was also awarded with various prizes and distinctions. Following his return to Greece, Vikatos taught at the School of Fine Arts from 1909 until 1939. Agenor Asteriadis,

Giorgos Gounaropoulos Giorgos Gounaropoulos (, 22 March 1890 – 17 August 1977) was a Greek artist. Life Giorgos Gounaropoulos was born in Sozopol, Bulgaria, on 22 March 1890, the sixth child of a Greek family. In the early 1900s the Bulgarian government put pressure ...

Spyros Papaloukas Spyros Papaloukas (Greek: Σπύρος Παπαλουκάς; Desfina, 1892 – Athens, 3 June 1957) was a renowned 20th-century Greek painter. Biography Papaloukas was born in Desfina, Phocis and was orphaned by his father at the age of 6. As a ...

Yannis Tsarouchis Yannis Tsarouchis (; 13 January 1910 – 20 July 1989) was a Greek modernist painter and set designer who achieved international fame, and was "known in particular for his homoerotic subjects," including soldiers, sailors, and nude males. Biogra ...

Sofia Zengo Papadhimitri Sofia Zengo Papadhimitri, also Sofia Papadhimitri (19 March 1915 - 13 June 1976) was an Albanian painter, who with her sister Androniqi Zengo Antoniu, is credited as one of Albania's first professional women painters. Biography Sofia Zengo w ...

Yiannis Spyropoulos Yiannis Spyropoulos () (March 12, 1912 – May 18, 1990) was a famous Greek painter of the second half of the 20th century. Life and work Spyropoulos was born in Pylos of Messenia. In 1933 he was accepted at the Athens School of Fine Arts. His ...

Sophia Laskaridou Sophia Laskaridou (, 1876 – 13 November 1965) was a Greek artist who was well known for her impressionist paintings in the early part of the 20th century. Later she became better known for her life than for her work. Life Sophia Laskaridou wa ...

and Victor Ioannides were among his students. He died in Athens in 1960.

Work

Vikatos mainly painted

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

and genre subjects. His paintings show the influence of German academicism and also of the 17th century

Flemish School Flemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century, gradually becoming distinct from the painting of the rest of the Low Countries, especially the modern Netherlands. In the early period, up to about 1520, the painti ...

. To a lesser extent he painted historical and religious compositions, still lifes and landscapes. He is noted for his depictions of old people, either alone or in larger compositions. Vikatos participated in solo, group and international exhibitions, including the Bordeaux International Exposition in 1907 (gold medal), Rome in 1911, Paris in 1937 and the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 1934 and 1936. in 1937 he received the national Medal of Arts and Letters, and in 1951 the Academy of Munich elected him an honorary member of the Fine Arts. Some of his artworks a held in the

National Gallery of Greece The National Gallery (, ''Ethniki Pinakothiki'') is an art museum located on Vasilissis Sofias avenue in the Pangrati district, Athens, Greece. It is devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century to the 20th century. The newly renov ...

, the Teloglion Foundation of Arts, the

Municipal Art Gallery of Ioannina A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and the

Municipal Art Gallery of Chania A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

Notes

Sources

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Bibliography

* Μαρίνα Λαμπράκη-Πλάκα, ed. (1999). ''Εθνική Πινακοθήκη /100 χρόνια, Τέσσερις αιώνες Ελληνικής Ζωγραφικής, Από τις Συλλογές της Εθνικής Πινακοθήκης και του Ιδρύματος Ευριπίδη Κουτλίδη''. Athens: Εθνική Πινακοθήκη και Μουσείο Αλεξάνδρου Σούτζου. pp. 651,656,668,677,683. ISBN 9607791029 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vikatos, Spyridon 1878 births 1960 deaths Munich School People from Argostoli Academic staff of the Athens School of Fine Arts Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 19th-century Greek painters 20th-century Greek painters