Page 328 - Beholding Liberty!

II.8.C
The activation of Philhellenism
«Shall then our century continue to watch like a spectator
hordes of savages massacring
a civilization that regrows
on the memorial of a people who gifted civilization to humankind?»
Chateaubriand, The memorandum of Greece, 1825
WITH THE OUTBREAK of the Greek Revolution, the Phil- hellenes get active, as much on the level of rhetoric and art in the international scene of the West, as also in practice and actively in the battlefields of Greece.
In the large cities of Europe and America, multi-member phil- hellenic committees are set up, which promote the liberation of Greece. Fundraisers are held for the fighting Greeks, while part of the money is used for the liberation of the enslaved by the Ottomans women and children, as it occurred after the fall of Missolonghi. Political pamphlets are published, which call the Christian nations in alliance against the heathen dynast, and pressure is exerted, through the philhellenic public opinion, on the governments of the big states, to take side in favour of the Greek cause.
Many, anonymous and eponymous, Philhellenes rush to Greece, to take part in military operations, as simple soldiers or as leading figures, and quite a few are wounded or even die a heroic death. Some of them record the developments as eye witnesses and publish them in newspapers and books, which, in turn, rekindle the philhellenic zeal in the international public.
In art, the dramatic events and heroic protagonists of the Greek Struggle inspire authors, music composers and visu- al artists. Poems and novels are published, in praise of the Greeks, while music scores, operas and theatrical works, arouse the Muses-loving public. Original paintings, works of first rate artists, and engravings that feature in all kinds of printed material, make known to the European public scenes of the romantic Greek war, while the figures of the Greek he- roes become famous.
328 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
II.8.C.1
Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet (1791-1834) Young Philhellene in Greek costume in Athens, 1832
oil on cardboard, 35 × 25,5 cm
signed and dated: AJ Du Bois Drahonet / 1832 (bottom right) inscribed: (65) (bottom left)
Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 630
THE FRENCH PAINTER Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Draho- net never visited Greece; being a committed portraitist, however, he produced this full-length portrait of a young philhellene, ap- parently commissioned by the sitter in 1832. The unknown sitter poses complacently, showing off his Greek costume and weapon- ry, leaning on his long sword, facing to the left. In the background, the Acropolis of Athens. This is a typical example of philhellenic iconography, involving a European who sought to promote him- self as a person of classical education who also shared in the Greek living heritage.