Constantinos Volanakis Greek, 1837-1907

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 pleinairisme 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.

For a comparable work, see Stelios Lydakis, Volanakis, Athens, 1997, p. 131, Frigate off a Rocky Shore, illustrated.