Page 418 - Beholding Liberty!

ΙΙΙ.7
Dim. Ypsilantis
N. Apostolis
P. Botassis
Dimitrios Ypsilantis (1793-1832)
MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, military man and politician. Offspring of an eminent Phanariot family, with stud- ies in Constantinople, the Danubian Principalities and Paris, Dimitrios Ypsilantis arrived in June 1821 in the Peloponnese as plenipotentiary of the General Commissioner of the Authority, his brother Alexandros. From his first contacts with the nota- bles of the Peloponnese, apparent became the reluctance of the local authorities to accept him and put in his hands the ad- ministration of the revolutionary operations. He was appointed general leader in the siege of Tripolitsa, in the First National Assembly of Epidaurus he was elected president of the Legis- lative (15 January 1822), while in the Second National Assem- bly of Astros (1823) he tried to retain a compromising attitude towards the opposing parties of politicians and military men.
Dimitrios Ypsilantis took part in many military operations against the Turks in the Peloponnese, culminating in his con- tribution to the clashes with the Turko-Egyprian forces of Ibra- him at Myloi of Argos (1825). In the Kapodistrian period he un- dertook the leadership of the army of Eastern Greece, in order to supervise the organization of a tactical corps, and after the victorious battle at the site of Petra in Boeotia (12 Septem- ber 1829) – the last battle of the Revolution – he forced the Ottoman forces to capitulate. After the assassination of the Governor he participated in the seven-member Administrative Committee, while a few months later he took part in the Fourth in a row National Assembly, during the course of which he died in Nafplio.
418 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
ΙΙΙ.7.1
Peter Heinrich Lambert von Hess (1792-1871) Dimitrios Ypsilantis defends bravely Argos
lithograph, 62 x 45 cm
signed: P Herivegen 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. (low centre)
inscribed: Δ. ο Υψηλάντης / υπερασπίζεται ανδρείως τήν πόλιν Άργος. (top) / Dem. Ypsilantis / is defending the City of Argos (left) /
Dem. Ypsilantis / défend la ville d’Argos. (right) / Dem. Ypsilantis vertheidigt die / Stadt Argos. (bottom)
Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 319
THIS PRINT COMES from a series by Peter von Hess [cf. cat. no III.1.17-20].
Dimitrios Ypsilantis undertook to defend Argos during the raid by Dramalis, who aimed to free the besieged Turks in Palamidi at Nafplio. Ypsilantis took up positions in the fortress of Larissa at Argos to distract Dramalis and give the headquarters of the Greek forces, in the Mills of the Argolid plain, precious time for preparation. Indeed, on July 26, 1822, strong Turkish forces at- tacked Argos. Ypsilantis, in a hussar uniform and holding the flag with the palm tree – used during the proclamation of revolution in 1821 in the Danube Hegemonies by his brother, Alexandros [cat. no. Prelude 2] – resists Ottoman artillery shelling.