The unknown German officer who painted the famous portraits of the heroes of 1821

When we refer to General Theodoros Kolokotronis, to General Georgios Karaiskakis, to Chief Nikitaras the Turkophagus or to the burlotier Konstantinos Kanaris, Admiral Andreas Miaoulis, General Makrygiannis and so many others Revolution, we have in mind a specific form for everyone.

We imagine the "Old Man of Moria" for example with long hair and a mustache, Makrygiannis with a headband and arms belted in the middle, while Karaiskakis with a thick mustache and fez. This is how we have seen them represented in them Tables adorning classrooms or books. But how did these images come about?

Photographs obviously did not exist during the Revolution of 1821 as the art of creating visual images by capturing light in the form we know it today took its first steps in 1826, but it was still at a very early stage - think that A total of 8 hours of light exposure were required to produce the first chemical photograph.

The culprit for the well-known portraits of the heroes of our national liberation struggle, as paradoxical as it sounds, was a Γερμανός Lieutenant, Carl Kratzisen. But let's take them in order.

In 1826 a group of young people arrived from Bavaria to the revolted Nafplio who, although they do not know a single Greek word, have been excited by the uprising of our people against the Ottoman Empire. What they are asking is for them to fight with all their might against the Turks. Their lieutenant is a 32-year-old named Carl Kratzisen who had pursued a military career early in life. In 1813 he had fought against France in the Napoleonic War and was well versed in the handling of weapons.

The Greeks promote him along with the other volunteers on the battlefields. Many of them will lose their lives in important conflicts for the evolution of the Revolution, as happened with other philhellenes who appreciated the Struggle for the freedom of a small Christian people in the southeastern corner of the Balkans and did not even hesitate to give their lives. their. The young German officer Kratzisen survived. He stayed for a year in our place and took part, among other things, in the siege of the Acropolis, which took place between August 1826 and May 1827. Surprisingly, however, his offer was equally valuable in another field that he obviously could not have imagined.

He was a self-taught painter and designer. Whenever he had time, he would take his watercolor and draw with pencil or charcoal the images he saw during the Revolution. Cannons, ships, landscapes, houses, images from everyday life, costumes, castles and much more. Characteristic are his plans for Nafplio, Aegina and the Acropolis of Athens as well as the first Greek steamship, the "Karteria", as he was present at the arrival that took place in Poros. However, he captured on paper something even more important, the portraits of leading figures of the Revolution that he met in the camps and in the Third National Assembly of Epidaurus.

He painted, among others, the portraits of Theodoros Kolokotronis (it is the classic figure that existed in the past and in the five thousand), of Nikitas Stamatelopoulos (Nikitara of the Turkophagus), of Giakoumakis Tombazis, of Georgios Kountouriotis, of Konstantinos Konstantinos, of Alexandros of Ioannis Makris, Andreas Zaimis, Konstantinos Kanaris, Georgios Sisinis, Kitsos Tzavelas, Andreas Miaoulis, Ioannis Milaitis, Ioannis Mavromichalis, Dimitrios Plapoutas, Konstantinos Axiotis, Ioannis Peotas, Ioannis Botsari, of the philhellenes Karolos Favieros, Frank Hastings and Thomas Gordon, but also of General Georgios Karaiskakis. The portrait of the latter was left unfinished for a moment as it began to be painted shortly before his death, in April 1827.

He created a total of 91 paintings, of which 21 are watercolors of landscapes and the remaining 70 are pencil drawings of faces, monuments and war compositions. The good thing is that he put the heroes and other important personalities and signed their portraits, thus certifying the authenticity and uniqueness of the depictions.

When he returned to Bavaria in 1827, Kratzisen lithographed his drawings and they were released in seven different albums from 1827 to 1931 under the general title "Bildnisse ausgezeichneter Griechen und Philhellenen nebst einigen Ansichten und Trachten." Nach der Natur gezeichnet und herausgegeben von Karl Krazeisen "(" Portraits of the most famous Greeks and Philhellenes, along with some views and costumes designed by nature and published by Karl Kratzisen ").

The self-taught artist died in Munich in 1878 and the lithographs were bequeathed to his daughter Maria, who in turn left them to her husband, Russian-born professor Ion Fetov. For the existence of portraits the important Greek painter of the 19th century Nikolaos Gyzis (1842-1900) who lived in Munich. He looked for Fetov in the city and when he saw the plans up close he realized that it was a national treasure.

Persuaded the holder to submit a proposal to Greece in order to sell them and after negotiations the National Gallery under the direction of Zacharias Papantoniou bought the lithographs in 1926, one hundred years after their creation, for 200.000 drachmas. Today they are in the "Eleftherios Venizelos" hall of the National Historical Museum of Athens, in the building of the Old Parliament on Stadiou Street.

* George Sarris is a journalist - member of ESIEA, honored by the President of the Republic with the Ath. Botsis Award for the objective and complete presentation of historical political issues.

Source