Page 110 - Beholding Liberty!
P. 110
110 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
PRELUDE 1
After Alphonse de Neuville (1835-1885) Patriotic Oath of the Greeks, ca. 1870
lithograph, 44 x 56 cm
signed: Deneuville pinx (bottom left)
Regnier Bettanier & Morlon lith (bottom right)
Paris BULLA – 16 Rue Tiquetonne (bottom left)
inscribed: SERMENT PATRIOTIQUE DES GRECS / Quatre siècles gémissaient sur les joug écrasant que fesaient peser les Turcs sur les provinces Grecques, lorsqu’un jour le foyer ardent de patriotisme et d’indépendance qui courant dans les poitrines de / ce peuple fier se rallume tout à coup; le cri de guerre raillie tous les défenseurs, et devant leur grand prêtre ils jurent l’affranchissement des Hellènes (low centre)
Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 377
THE FRENCH PAINTER Alphonse Marie Adolphe de Neuville (1835-1885) studied under the leading Romantic artist Eugène Delacroix.
He painted some of the most characteristic episodes of the Greek War (Souliote Women, The Death of Markos Botsaris, Defence of Missolonghi); his paintings were subsequently published as engravings.
This painting became an iconic image of the Greek War of Independence; it was in fact misidentified
as the proclamation of the revolution by Germanos, metropolitan of Patras [cf. cat. no III.3.3].
The Patriotic Oath of the Greeks is a typical example of late-nineteenth-century historical painting. De Neuville’s late-romantic, multi-figure composition depicts armed fighters taking the oath arranged in a circle around the religious leader, who is blessing the flag of the Revolution. Military action is imminent.
