Lot 62: IOANNIS ALTAMOURA, GREEK 1852-78

signed l.l.

oil on canvas

55.5 by 68.5cm., 21 3/4 by 27in.

Private Collection, Monte Carlo

Altamura is a unique figure in Greek painting. He studied initially with Nikiforos Lytras at the Athens School of Fine Arts before King George I granted him in 1873 a scholarship for attending the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. There, he joined the atelier of noted marine artist Carl Frederik Sørensen and travelled extensively within Scandanavia. Three years later, tuberculosis forced the rapidly evolving artist back to his native Spetses. Altamura's premature death at the age of twenty-six cut short the oeuvre of one of Greece's most promising nineteenth century painters.