Page 111 - Beholding Liberty!

HALL OF THE TROPHIES
PRELUDE 2
Peter Heinrich Lambert von Hess (1792-1871)
Alexandros Ypsilantis assumes the chief command of the Struggle for freedom
lithograph, 62 x 45 cm
signed: P Herwegen inv. et sculpsit (under decorative border, centre) / Gemalt v. Peter Hess (bottom left) /
Lithogr. v. H. Kohler (bottom right) / Eigenthum u. Verlag v. Meÿ u. Widmaÿer, München (bottom centre)
inscribed (captions): Ο Υψηλάντης αναδέχεται τήν αρχι- / στρατηγίαν του υπέρ ελευθερίας αγώνος (top) // A. Ypsilantis / founding the Hetaerie. (left) // A. Ypsilantis / fondant l’Hétérie. (right) // A Ypsilantis / gründet die Hetärie. (bottom) Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 306
PRINCE ALEXANDER YPSILANTIS (1792- 1828), a major general of the Russian army, distin- guished on the battlefield, was inducted into the Filiki Etaireia by Emmanuel Xanthos in April 1820 in St Pe- tersburg and took over the helm of the secret society.
This print after a painting by Peter von Hess [cf.
cat. no II.1.17-20] is titled Ypsilantis Appointed Commander in Chief of the War of Independence; in fact, however, it shows him crossing Prut River on February 22, 1821, to raise the flag of the Revolution in the Danubian Principalities. The preparation for the uprising is now complete; the armed struggle for liberation is about to begin.
PRELUDE The preparation of the Struggle 111