Page 370 - Beholding Liberty!

370 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
ΙΙ.9.4
Dionysios Tsokos (1820-1862)
Boat of Greeks or The flee from Parga oil on canvas, 29 × 33 cm
Averof Museum, Metsovo
THIS PAINTING shows Parga residents flee- ing by sea when, in 1819, their town was sold to Ali Pasha by the British. Fearing the revenge of Ali, who was known as the “Lion of Epirus”, the Par- gans fled to the Ionian Islands, leaving their homes, but taking with them the bones of their ancestors, which they scattered in the sea. Characteristic fig- ures of warriors, a priest and a woman are shown during their passage from the mainland to the Ioni- an coast, riding the waves on a small boat. Facing the stern, they are looking back to the homeland they are leaving behind, pressing every available vessel to service.
The dramatic scene culminates in the figure of a young man perched on the mast, holding the ban- ner with the cross.
The drama of Parga sent waves of outrage across Europe and inspired a number of artists, most no- tably Francesco Hayez and his monumental paint- ing The Refugees of Parga, of 1831.
Ludovico Lipparini also painted this subject; his Boat of Greeks went on display in Venice in 1844. Dionysios Tsokos made this version after Lippa- rini’s painting as his student at the Venice Acad- emy of Fine Arts. Tsokos brought back to Greece the models of historical painting and romantic elements that he had learned under Lipparini. He painted one more version on this subject (oil on paper on panel, 37 × 47 cm, E. Koutlidis Collec- tion, National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Mu- seum, inv. no K822); also The Flight from Patras, a large-scale painting on a similar subject (oil on canvas, 76 × 100 cm, E. Koutlidis Collection, Na- tional Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, inv. no K799). Tsokos produced a number of paintings on subjects inspired by the Greek Revolution.