Lot 14: Constantinos Volanakis (Greek, 1837-1907) After the inauguration 45 x 68 cm.

Constantinos Volanakis (Greek, 1837-1907)
After the inauguration signed in Greek (lower left) oil on canvas45 x 68 cm.

We are grateful to Professor M. Vlachos for his assistance in authenticating this lot.Provenance: Private collection, Athens.This rich scene of strolling officers, sailors on board tenders and observing local folk is set against a spectacular array of bedecked battleships firing cannon salutes,1 strongly reminiscent of two of Volanakis's most famous compositions that convey a jubilant atmosphere of national elation: The Arrival of Princess Sophia in Phaleron, 1889-1890 and especially The inauguration of the Corinth Canal, 1893, in three versions, held by the Bank of Greece, the National Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank. The Corinth Canal, which connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea cutting through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, was a major achievement of the Charilaos Trikoupis governments that revolutionised shipping in the Mediterranean and established Piraeus as a key port in the trade routes to the West. When French engineers completed the four-mile-long canal in 1893 after 11 years of work, they finished a job that only Periandros of Corinth in the 7th century BC and Emperor Nero in the first century AD had previously attempted. Until the canal was built, ships sailing between Piraeus and Italy had to round the dreadful Cape Tainaron (Matapan) at the southern tip of the Peloponnese, adding some 200 miles to their journey. The Corinth Canal was also the subject of another Volanakis masterpiece, The cutting of the Isthmus of Corinth (E. Koutlides Foundation, Athens). 1 The customary gun salute was established as a naval tradition in the late sixteenth century. A warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent. As naval customs evolved, guns came to be fired for heads of state, visiting dignitaries or persons to whom honors were being rendered.