The Greek Sale

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Lot 12
  • 12

Nicholas Gysis Greek, 1842-1901

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Description

  • Nicholas Gysis
  • Grandfather offering apples to his grandchildren (Enough for all)
  • signed and inscribed München; titled Enough For All on an old label on the reverse
  • oil on canvas
  • 92 by 71cm., 36¼ by 28 in.

Provenance

M. Newman, Ltd., London
Private Collection, Athens

Literature

Konstantinos Didaskalou, Genre-und allegorische Malerei, Munich 1991, p. 51
Nelly Missirli, Gysis, Athens 1996, no. 80, p. 133, illustrated

Catalogue Note

Considered by many to be the father of Greek 19th-Century painting, Nicholas Gysis was at the pinnacle of his career when he painted Enough for All  in the early 1880s. Depicting a grandfather sharing apples between his two young grandchildren, the painting celebrates the importance of family life. In this and his other genre paintings of the period Gysis took a keen interest in exploring Greek manners, customs, rituals, costumes and physiognomy. This interest was strengthened by the birth of his own son, whose presentation to family and friends is depicted in the painting The New Arrival (lot 16).

The family, as a basic unit of society, held a special significance for Gysis, and narrative paintings such as Enough for All, The New Arrival  and The Barber (see fig. 1)  typically built anecdotes around children in ways that fully exploited their optimism, appeal and good humour. 

While firmly rooted in German romanticism, Enough for All superbly illustrates Gysis’ transcendence beyond his masters' teachings and assimilation of other continental trends. From the early tutelage of Karl von Piloty he had developed an obsession for depicting textures. In Enough for All the virtuoso rendition of fabrics, the contrast between young and old complexions, between rough and polished wood demonstrates the new life that had been breathed into representation by Courbet and French realism. Likewise the warm, earthy palette and strong chiaroscuro suggest the pre-occupation with light that captivated Gysis during this period. Underpinned by a powerful, yet deceptively simple, draughtsmanship, these factors give the composition a rich materiality.

FIG. 1: Nicholas Gysis, The Barber, sold: Sotheby's London, 12 October 2000, lot 34
Dig ref: Gysis_the_barber

FIG. 2: Nicholas Gysis, Preliminary drawing for the present work@ Yiannis Perdios Collection, Athens
Dig ref: 103D06103