Pallas Athena (design for the flag of the University of Athens)
Artist
Nikolaos Gyzis
(1842 - 1901 )
Date1887
MediumMixed media (charcoal, pastel, gouache and watercolour on coloured paper mounted on paper; edged by fabric band)
Dimensions185.5 x 113.7 cm
Collection No562
DescriptionAn
iconic piece in the Bank of Greece Collection, "Pallas Athena" by Nikolaos
Gyzis is attuned to the artistic quests of the time through its symbolism, as
well as functional value as a design for the flag of the University of Athens.
Already an accomplished artist in both Germany and Greece, when he received the
University Senate’s commission to design the flag, Gyzis chose to depict the
goddess Athena, with the obvious intent to evoke the virtues and values which
the deity stood for, as an apt symbol for the country’s leading academic
institution. Austere and statuesque, the figure of the goddess is shaped by a
linear and symmetric drawing, favouring stylisation at the expense of
plasticity. With a certain degree of abstraction and flat colour that reveal
influences from the Viennese Jugendstil, the composition is an explicit
reference to the column-like statues of archaic times.