Lot 8: Vikentios Bokatsiambis , Greek 1856-1932 View of the Church of Saint Nikolas, Athens oil on canvas

signed twice lower left oil on canvas

28.3 by 58cm., 11¼ by 22¾in.

Rome, Esposizione Internazionale, 1911

Grammata kai Tehnes, Athens, September 1911, no. 127, p. 144, listed

Queen Elena of Italy, Rome (purchased in 1911 at the Esposizione Internazionale di Roma)

The present work had the distinction of being exhibited at the Esposizione Internazionale, the world's fair held in Rome in 1911 to celebrate the 50υth anniversary of the unification of Italy. There it was purchased by Queen Elena, queen consort of King Victor Emmanuel III.

Bokatsiambis' oeuvre exhibits a pre-occupation with landscape, predominantly that of Corfu and Athens. Landscapes such as the present work typically have a richness of colour, while tempering dynamism and movement with an emotive poeticism.

Born on Corfu, to a family of French origins, Bokatsiambis started his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Marseille, later continuing them in Florence and then Rome. He returned to Greece in 1895, founding an art school in Corfu and then settling in Athens as Chair of Decorative Design at the School of Fine Arts.