Having studied the art of the Renaissance, as well as the works of the French classicists from the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, he combined Renaissance classical structure, measure, and harmony with faultless draughtsmanship and the melancholic rendering of figure common to French art, while in the depiction of mythological scenes, a definitive role was undoubtedly played by his acquaintance with the work of Dominique Ingres (1780 - 1867).
At a young age (during the Ottoman Empire), he fled to Odessa and then to St. Petersburg, a large artistic center during that period, where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts but lived and worked in Florence.
Portrait of Zoe Kambani (ca 1862) by Kounelakis NikolaosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
There he met and married Zoe Kambani, who we see in this painting while they were still engaged. She died a year after the wedding from tuberculosis. Kounelakis’ paintings include portraits, religious subjects, and mythological scenes.
The Artist's Familly - Allegory of the Fine Arts and Liberal Arts (1864-1865) by Kounelakis NikolaosNational Gallery of Greece - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Here at first glance, we see a family portrait but there is an allegory concealed in this work of art.
In Florence, where Kounelakis lived at the time, the echoes of a literary debate on the issue of equality between the Fine (painting, sculpture, architecture) and the Liberal Arts (poetry, music) were still alive. With this work, he gives his own answer, showing them coexisting equally in the painting.
The artist himself becomes the symbol of the art of painting, while the dome of the Florence Cathedral, depicted in the painting within the painting, suggests the art of architecture while invoking at the same time the city in which the artist lived.
The bust of a classical Muse on the left suggests the art of sculpture.
These three fine arts coexist with poetry (symbolized by the small book held by the artist`s mother-in-law, Euphemia Kambani)
while his wife, Zoe Kambani is writing down musical notes, suggesting the art of music. The composition is inspired by Renaissance models. Gravely suffering from tuberculosis, Zoe Kambani was to perish soon afterward.
Texts: Marina Lampraki-Plaka, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, ex-Director, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens
Project leader: Efi Agathonikou, Head of Collections Department, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens
Images: Stavros Psiroukis & Thalia Kimpari, Photographic Studio, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens
Digital curation: Dr. Alexandros Teneketzis, Art Historian & Marina Tomazani, Art Historian, Curator, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum
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