Nicholas Gysis

Private Collection, USA

Never previously offered at auction and preserved in original condition, The Fortune Teller must be counted among the most significant nineteenth-century paintings to be sold in recent years.  Numbering among his greatest compositions, The Fortune Teller dates from the 1880s when Gysis was at the height of his artistc powers. Considered by many to be the father of Greek nineteenth-century painting, in works such as the present Gysis celebrated Greek daily life tempered by Greek manners and customs. A young woman turns her blushing face away from a fortune teller, as her young companions encircle her, raptly observing and laughing. This warm and light-hearted scene encourages the viewer to step closer and join in the merriment, and is also the subject of an 1885 oil on canvas in the collection of the National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens (fig. 1).

This genre scene, while created in Munich, is essentially Greek even in the spareness of the palette, comprising rich earth tones and crisp whites and yellows, punctuated by a deep blue used by Gysis after an inspiring trip to Greece. In addition, strong chiaroscuro suggests 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.

While firmly rooted in German romanticism, The Fortune Teller 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 The Fortune Teller the virtuoso rendition of fabrics, the contrast between young and old complexions, between cool, smooth stone and rough, furrowed wood demonstrates the new life that had been breathed into representation by Courbet and French realism.

FIG. 1, Nicholas Gysis, The Fortune Teller, 1885, National Gallery & Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens 
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