Constantinos Volanakis Greek, 1837-1907

Private Collection, Hungary

Volanakis'  work occupies one of the most important places in the history of modern Greek art.  The turn of the century was an age of radical political, economic and social change. During his mature Greek period Volanakis executed a series of works in which the roles of the sea, ports and human presence intermesh to create scenes from the daily toil of fisherfolk and sailors or the bustle of the dockside areas. Whilst depicting harbour views such as the present work, Volanakis also recorded the advances in shipbuilding of his day, and the increasingly bustling activities on the quays and docks, an interest that he had in common with with many of the French exponents of Realism and Impressionism of the day.

Volanakis won renown as the foremost marine painter of the nineteenth century with his masterful representation of ships, detailed recordings of naval fittings and sensitive renderings of atmospheric changes. The present work epitomizes Volanakis' descriptive accuracy and finesse as well as his poetic rendering of the atmosphere of the harbour and its surroundings. Familiar with the sea and seagoing vessels he tried to render the marine environment faithfully, whilst also imbuing his compositions with a certain lyricism and poetry.

Volanakis studied his themes in detail while at the same time incorporating them into a homogenous whole. The motionlessness of the moored ships, the large vertical surfaces of the sails on which the light and shade are constantly interacting, the expanse of the sea, the low horizon and clouds are all key elements of his unique style. Although in keeping with the realist spirit and the technical accuracy of the School of Munich, Volanakis did not concern himself with transposing its precepts to Greece. Instead he increasingly incorporated modern artistic ideas, such as the concept of plein air painting and the importance of capturing fleeting light and atmosphere in his works.

The present work is a masterpiece in the study of perspective, space and distance in the artist’s observation of the ships and boats in relation to one another as well as his handling of the receding clouds coming to meet the horizon. Depicting numerous ships approaching and entering the safety of a harbour before nightfall, Volanakis excels in particular in the detailed depiction of  the moored steamship and threemaster to the left of the composition, and the skillfull recession and the ray of light which breaks through the clouds to illuminate the approaching vessels in the distance, in the center and to the right side of the composition.

Volanakis was born and raised in Crete. In 1856 he moved to Trieste where he worked as an accountant for the sugar firm Aphentoulis.  His artistic talent and passion for seascapes and observations of vessels became clearly apparent to his employer when he found numerous sketches of boats, ships and the docks scribbled in Volanakis' ledger books. Rather than fire his young employee,  Aphentoulis encouraged Volanakis to take up painting as a profession and paid for him to study at the Munich Academy under Karl von Piloty. After a successful stay in the Bavarian capital Volanakis returned to Greece in 1884 and settled in Piraeus.

Living close to the sea provided a continual source of inspiration for Volanakis. During his Greek period (1884-1907) his Munich School training gave way to more progressive styles, a genuine quest for light and colour, and a lyrical description of atmosphere as evinced by the present work. The impressionistic tendencies of some of his works were far ahead of their time in Greece. Impressionism and pleinairism in a way helped Volanakis to adapt to Greece, in a period when light and its effects on colours altered his psychological mood and consequently his interpretations.