Pavlos Mathiopoulos, Greek 1876-1956

Ioannis Trikoupis, Athens; thence by descent to the present owner

Mathiopoulos was the premier portrait painter in Greece during the early twentieth-century. His ability to render a flattering likeness in a dynamic, colourful bravura style made his Athens studio a destination of social necessity for cosmopolitan beauties and aspiring ladies of the world.  Known for his elegant depictions of men and women, his portraits usually presented the sitter dressed in exotic furs, expensive jewellery and fancy garments. According to Maria Katsanaki "... Mathiopoulos became particularly well known for his portraits. He primarily made use of pastel and, to a lesser degree, oil, having mastered impressionist types, rendered his works with elegance and a tendency to idealize in agreement with the aesthetic of the Belle Epoque" (Maria Katsanaki, in Marina Lambraki-Plaka, ed., Four centuries of Greek Paintings, Athens, 1999, p. 670).   

Mathiopoulos' initial training was at the School of Fine Arts in Athens under Nikiforos Lytras. He later moved to Paris to study under Jean Josephe Benjamin-Constant and Jules Lefebvre. In 1903 he moved back to Greece where he remained for the rest of his life.