Page 216 - Beholding Liberty!

ΙΙ.3.1
Unknown artist
Koliopoulos Plapoutas defanding Dervenakia and Isthums, in the Peloponnese
oil on canvas, 59 × 32 cm
Michael and Demetra Varkarakis Collection
A PAINTING REPRODUCTION after an engraving by Peter von Hess, produced in the sec- ond half of the nineteenth century by an unknown painter. It shows Plapoutas in combat, defending the Dervenakia passage between Corinth and Argos.
Dervenakia is the site of one of the greatest victo- ries in the War, on July 26-28, 1822, on both a moral and a symbolic level, as well as in terms of impact, as it wreaked destruction on the multitudinous Ot- toman forces of General Mahmut Pasha Dramalis – hence it became known as the Massacre, or De- struction, of Dramalis.
Dimitris (Dimitrakis) Koliopoulos, or Plapoutas (1786-1864) was a chieftain trusted by Theodoros Kolokotronis, under whom he played a leading role
ΙΙ.3.2
French studio
Konstaninos Kanaris in his fire-ship (brûlot)
table clock of gilded bronze, 42 × 30 × 11 cm Michael and Demetra Varkarakis Collection
A FINE EXAMPLE of decorative clockmak- ing on philhellenic themes. Set on a decorated table base, this clock is attached to a dark sculpted mass in the form of waves, on which floats the fireship of Konstantinos Kanaris (1793-1877). The captain, standing in the centre, moves to the left; he fires with his left hand to the right. This creates opposing axes that add intensity to the main figure and his action.
This theme was adapted to be produced on bases with many different decorative patterns.
in several major military operations in the Pelopon- nese. After Kolokotronis’ ingenuous plan to trap Dra- malis’s 30,000 men in the Argolid plain, in July 1822, causing a food shortage, Plapoutas with 800 men defended the Schinochorion Straits, the northwest passage from Argolis to the Stymfalia Lake. Dra- malis received a pounding in the Dervenakia Straits, as a result of which he failed to make it to safety in Corinth, and was forced to return to Tiryns.
Plapoutas is shown here with his soldiers, fortified to defend the straits against the Turkish troops of Dramalis. He is guiding the hand of a Greek woman holding a rifle – a scene that highlights the contribu- tion of women to the Struggle, not only in the rear, but also on the front lines.
216 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!