Πέμπτη 5 Ιανουαρίου 2017

The Fytalis Brothers





Georgios Fytalis                                          ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΦΥTAΛHS                                                            
Born in 1830                                                                      Died in 1880


Lazaros Fytalis                                                 LAZAROS    ΦΥTAΛHS 

  Born in 1831                                                                   Died in 1909

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The Fytalis brothers gained fame as artists and teachers but they were also savvy business men who, early on, learned the rules of that art too. They established the most prestigious private school for sculptors in Athens, worked hard, and built a lasting artistic legacy. Many of their works can be found in the First Cemetery of Athens.

Their Lives:

Georgios and Lazaros, the two eldest in a family of five, became sculptors. They acquired their early training at their father’s marble workshop on Tinos. One brother, Marcos, was a painter and another, Ioannis, became an architect. It was a winning combination because the four brothers would often assist each other. 

In 1846, at the ages of fifteen and sixteen, Georgios and Lazaros enrolled in the School of Arts in Athens. They were fortunate in their teachers. In 1847, Lysandros Kaftantzoglou (1), an alumnus of Accademia di San Luca in Rome and a man who would become a major name in 19th century Greek architecture, was appointed Head of the Art school in Athens. He became a close friend of King Othon and his sponsorship of the Fytalis brothers would prove important to their success. At the same time, Christian H. Siegal, a German sculptor, joined the school and taught them the art of modeling figures. Both Headmaster and teacher were firm advocates of the neoclassical style, then so popular in Europe

In 1851 Lazaros and Georgos participated in the World Exhibit of Art with two bas relief copies of the Parthenon Frieze.  In 1856, they entered the Kontostavleios Competition, a contest sponsored by a wealthy Chiot banker. They won the first prize of one thousand drachmas for Shepherd Holding a Kid, a work now in the National Sculpture Gallery.







Immortalized in a postage stamp

With the prize money they opened their own studio–school, the ‘Andriantopieio,’ in the center of Athens on Academias Street. Lazaros, the more independent-minded brother, left for Paris to continue his studies under the French sculptor Charles Henri Joseph Cordier; Georgios stayed home and took care of business. 

The brothers collaborated on many works during their careers, and so seamlessly that articles sometimes attribute the same work to one or the other brother. It seems safer for non-experts like ourselves to see all works as emanating from the Fytalis studio.


The “Andriantopieio”

Georgos Fytalis set high and rather harsh standards for his new school. Each student who enrolled was obliged to bring a guarantor to vouch for him. The guarantor and candidate cosigned a contract with a notary public. The contract included the schools’ regulations and their obligations as students. There were no exceptions to this procedure. A friend or Tinian compatriot went through the same procedure regardless of close ties to the family. The duration of the training was two years. Fytalis gave each student a small allowance - just enough for their meals. The second year he gave them a little more spending money for their clothes.

The most famous sculptors who served their apprenticeship at Fytalis’ school were Demitrios Filippotis and Ioannis Vitsaris. It was the common practice for budding students of sculpture to seek studio work under masters during their studies before going out on their own. (Some sculptors would choose to remain with a master and never set up their own studios.) Novices needed as many hours of practice to learn as much as possible. There was always something new - a technique of some kind which they could not acquire from the Art School alone. 

Marble sculpting is a collaborative art involving many stages. Even when stone cutting was considered a craft as opposed to ‘art’, masters would insist their students learn to draw and sketch like professional artists as an important preliminary; a good sculptor had to be an excellent draftsman.  It is also true that a master might create the sculpture in plaster or clay and his students then execute the work under his direction. An interesting example of this is the famous Sleeping Girl of Yiannoulos Chalepas. He created this beautiful piece, but others in his workshop actually executed it in marble. (2)

In 1859 and for nine years thereafter, Giorgos Fytalis became a professor at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. His studio continued to thrive. The students and the apprentices executed many commissions under the brothers’ supervision. Many were destined for the First Cemetery of Athens.





Commissions in the First Cemetery

Some might argue that an artist who resorts to funerary monuments for money is wasting his or her talent. But such commissions back then offered real benefits: none of the headaches with tenders and competitions, or ulcers with deadlines, payoffs and committees, not to mention endless articles in the newspapers about whose statue in a public place was better and why was he chosen etc. etc. that accompanied any commission from the state or city.  The order for a funeral monument was between the artist and an interested party who wanted something special for his loved one and was willing to pay good money for it. In many cases, a funeral monument meant more artistic freedom and probably a better guarantee of payment – no small thing. And funeral monuments mattered back then. I can imagine that when a prominent family approached a sculptor for a funeral monument, the fact that he had been chosen over a rival studio would have both delighted him and honoured his studio.

The Fytalis Brothers in the First Cemetery

According to the dates of death, the beautiful monument of Theodoros Andreou Louriotis (1855) may be Lazaros Fytalis’ first monument in the cemetery:


Section 1, Number 480

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This bas relief - a personal favorite – is an exceptional example of Neo-Classicism at its best. It is solemn and poignant, suggesting quiet mourning. Its ‘depth’, the way it uses shadow and light makes a standardized funeral motif unique and special.



A Long View of the Louriotis Grave


Family Konstantinos and Nikolaos Negris:

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Section 4, Number 183
Gothic in style

and setting!

Philip K. Pangalos (1881):



Section 1, Number 105




The Giannoulis Family (1890) opted for a canopy divided into 4 sections and, in each section, a woman symbolizing Hope, Virtue, Justice and Charity:


Hope and Virtue

Justice and Charity
Section 1/115

In the same plot sits Maria Kassimati, with a distinguished air, but her statue was executed later by Demitrios Filippotis.  Family plots changed over time: 







Family Tsarlambas:


Section 2/24
One of the daughters Areti Tsarlamba married Odysseos Androutsos. Through marriage, the family is also related to the poet A. Valaorites.  Markos Tsarlambas was a member of the Parliament.
Family tomb Lady Law- Peirounaki and Sir Edward Fitzgerald Law (3): and Eleni Georgiou Xatzanesti

 


Section 5/583

Sir Edward, a Catholic, is buried with his  Greek wife. His career in Greece will get its own text.

Tomb of A.  Metaxas:
 


Section One, Number 156




 



Fytalis Family Tomb:



Section One, Number 123 ( on main road to Agios Lazarus)

Lazaros Fytalis, outlived his brother George by 29 years, became involved in archeological excavations and, oddly enough, is not included on the family tombstone. Wikipedia claims that he died in 1909 while in the Athens Poorhouse. There must be a story there but we cannot unearth it – yet.
Another Puzzle: The Missing Monument to Kaftantzoglu
When his friend and advocate Lysandros Kaftantzoglou died in 1860 Georgios Fytalis created a funeral monument that caused great public interest. When the plaster cast was completed, the public was invited to come to their studio and see the result.  And when it was erected in the First Cemetery the newspapers again invited the people to the unveiling. Strangely, it has disappeared – a mystery because Kaftantzoglu was so important and the sculptors so famous. If we find a copy, and the ‘why’ of it, we will post it.

Map Showing the Fytalis Monuments in the Cemetery




Footnotes

(1) Lysandros Kaftantzoglou was a fascinating figure in his own right. He executed many of the neoclassical buildings in Athens and was said to be the designer of the Tositsas monument by the Agios Lazarus church although the Fytalis studio actually carved it. Oddly enough, it was never signed.

 Section 2, Number 7

Michael Tosistas 1861

Many architects designed monuments in the First Cemetery, Ernst Ziller, for one designed the extravagant Negroponte monument as well as that of Heinrich Schliemann.

(2)There is a marble workshop on the west side of Anapafseos Street where you can see a sculpture in the making from plaster cast to marble perfection. We followed this one all during 2016. Take a look and see what is happening when you pass by on your way to the cemetery. For more in the workshop, see:


March 8 file

(3) In 1892 London sent Sir Edward Fitzgerald Law to check Greece’s finances; Prime Minister Trikoupis had asked for a loan. Law found time to fall in love with Aikaterini Chatzopoulou who persuaded him to write a good financial report for London. He did… But, of course, numbers do not lie and in November 1893 the Prime Minister had to address the Parliament saying: “Unfortunately we are bankrupt”… Law survived that embarrassment, stayed in Greece, and is buried  with his lady love. 
Sources
Olga Badema-Fountoulaki Kleanthis 1802-1862, Architect, Businessman and Visionary
http://thesis.ekt.gr/thesisBookReader/id/30368#page/24/mode/1up




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