Portrait of Despina with Necklace and Earrings
Artist
Yannis Tsarouchis
(1910 - 1989 )
Date1976
MediumOil on paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions51.5 x 37.4 cm
Collection No759
DescriptionYannis
Tsarouchis, an artist whose entire career was guided by a sense of measure,
erudition, reason and physical beauty, a proponent of “universal Greekness”,
was a passionate student of the human figure, with his hallmark portraits of
sailors, soldiers or symbolic scenes. The female figure, Despina, can be safely
identified as the painter’s cousin, a person dear and close to him and the
sitter for a number of his other portraits. Against a flat neutral background
in green tonalities, attesting to the painter’s profound knowledge of Byzantine
art, the figure emerges with its bold, clearly defined features, in a direct
reference to the colour palette and the calm, yet compelling, expressiveness of
Fayum portraits. The gaze and expressiveness of the faces provide the key to
deciphering the subjects’ characters, with Despina coming across as mellow and
patient.