Christian Heinrich Siegel

 

Christian Heinrich Siegel                ΚΡΙΣΤΙΑΝ ΧΕΙΝΡΙΧ ΣΙΥΚΕΛ

Born 1806 in Germany                    Died 1883 in Athens

 

Row E right at the far end of the Protestant Cemetery

It is true that Christian Heinrich Siegel the first teacher of modelling and sculpture at the newly formed Athens School of Arts has not left much of a visible legacy (a huge sleeping lion in Nauplio and a sculpted grave in the First Cemetery) but his spiritual legacy is immense because he helped to mold  the aesthetic and the skills of the first generation of Greece’s sculptors. The details of his almost 50 years in Greece are sketchy but worth examining because his time in Greece offers a glimpse into the beginnings of the modern state. His life is typical of the optimism, skill sets, and entrepreneurship that characterized so many young Europeans who came to Greece to help create the nation and, hopefully, to make their fortunes. Like many artists-entrepreneurs of that era, Siegel would dabble extensively in archaeology, real estate, and business, in his case marble quarries.  Unlike many Germans, he chose to stay and even began to sign his name in the Greek fashion- ΣΙΓΚΕΛΟΣ, quite a compliment to his adopted country.

 

His Life

Christian was born in Wandsbek, now a district in the city of Hamburg, Germany in 1808. He travelled due north to study at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, modelled after the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris and then one of the best Academies in Europe. Denmark was undergoing a cultural renaissance of sorts after the Napoleonic wars and this school would produce famous sculptors such as Herman Freund (1786-1840) and Bertel Thorvaldsen (1797-1838). The neoclassical style, in vogue at the time, would be absorbed by the young Christian and later by his pupils in Greece. He completed his studies in the Munich Academy under Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler and in 1837-8 back in Hamburg under Otto Sigsmund Runge.

 

The Danish Academy’s Seal

 

The European Academies and the spread of Neoclassicism

It is amazing in that pre-internet world, how interconnected and homogeneous the aesthetic ideals at these academies were and how easily ideas gravitated from one centre to the other.  Many students studied in multiple academies before graduation and, no doubt, this would have produced a kind of ‘old boys’ network valuable to students, not just for a shared aesthetic, but also because of the connections they made that could lead to those all important future commissions.

The Neoclassical style itself was partly a reaction against rococo excesses but was also fuelled by the intense contemporary interest in all things classical, especially classical sculpture which, literally, was being unearthed in Italy and Greece during that period. Students at European art academies were always tasked with copying these newly discovered forms which then became a part of their artistic DNA.  Neoclassicism, like classicism itself, placed emphases on clarity of contour, the idealization of faces and bodies, decorum in positioning, and an overall sense of repose which, all together, projected a sense of timelessness and the ideal.  The preferred attire was classical rather than contemporary. (1) The Venus de Milo, discovered in 1820, could be taken as a beau ideal for neoclassical sculpture.

 

Neoclassicism was a style that suited 19^th century Greece perfectly, not just because it was already popular in Europe and the natural heritage of the country, but also because one of the aims of the new state was to stress its connection with the ancient Greece and to present the modern state in an equally idealized form.

 

Greece gets a German King in 1832 and a lot of Germans Answer his Call

Greece’s fight for freedom had captured the imagination of Europe as did the investiture in 1832 of 17 year old King Othon, the son of Ludwig I of Bavaria. Greece provided opportunities for European artists and architects with the right connections, - connections which Christian Siegel had. His teacher in Munich was one of King Ludwig’s master craftsmen and Hans Christian Hansen (1803-1883), the Danish architect who would have such an early influence in Athens had been a student in Copenhagen during the same period as Siegel.

Siegel arrived in Greece in 1834, (2) to work with Hansen who needed artisans to decorate a building complex planned for land bought by Georgios Kantakouzenos at the corner of Millerou and Leonidou in what is today’s Metaxourgeio.  Siegel was in his late twenties and Hansen in his early thirties. Works were being sponsored by King Ludwig, and the many wealthy Greeks who had flocked to Greece from the diaspora to buy land and finance the reconstruction of the city. It was a wonderful time to be an architect or artisan; Athens was rising from the ashes of the War of Independence and had just been designated as Greece’s capital city.

 

A False Start in Metaxourgeiou

Kantakouzenos, a wealthy Phanariot, had bought this site for development  primarily because it would be near the proposed royal palace then planned in today’s  Omonia Square. He was not the only land speculator to be bitterly disappointed when the palace was actually built on the east side of today’s Syntagma  Square. The new Athens elite all wanted to build near that all important palace. As a result, the area where the Kantakouzenos complex had been planned became less desirable, and more industrial. The complex was abandoned for a time and then altered to later become the site of the silk factory that has given the district its name today. Its latest incarnation is as the Athens Municipal Art Gallery. (3)

 

 

1: where Kantakouzenos bought, 2: the proposed palace site, and 3: where it was built. These distances in today’s mega city seem small, but they were not considered small in the 1830s.

 

In any case, Hansen signed off the project almost immediately, angry that his original design was not being followed. He went on to greater things: the design and construction of the main building of the University of Athens and the excavation and reconstruction of the Acropolis’ temple of Athena Nike.

 Siegel remained in Athens, looking for work.

In 1838, he received a commission from King Ludwig 1 to erect a suitable monument to the Royal Bavarian Guards who had succumbed to typhoid in Nauplio during the terrible epidemic of 1833-4. (4)

 

 

Completed in 1840-41, and located in the Pronoia district close to the city centre, it is carved out of the native slate rock and is 8 metres long and three metres high.

 

I love this monument. I came across it on one of my first visits to Greece and had no idea what an immense lion was doing, snoozing in a suburb of Nauplio.  Its pose is wonderfully mournful, and those immense and relaxed paws are awesome yet somehow endearing as they hang over the ‘tomb’. Some have suggested that this lion was inspired the famous archaic lion of the island of Kea. It too was immense and carved from the living rock. But our feline’s true ancestor lives in Switzerland. He is the Lion of Lucerne, a memorial to fallen soldiers completed by Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1821. Bertel was nine years older than Siegel, more famous, and, like Siegel, a graduate of the Danish School of Fine Arts. His monument had clearly made an impression on Siegel. (5)

 

 

Thorvaldsen’s lion.

 

This early photograph taken by Carl Siele in 1910 gives you a better idea of the grandeur of ‘our’ lion’s situation and size. The effect is slightly hi-jacked these days by the children’s playground at its base. Still, the lion sleeps on....

 

1842 saw Siegel working on the decorative marble bits for the new palace of the King as well as taking part in the resurrection of some of the monuments on the Acropolis rock. It seems as if every philhellene did a little digging or resurrecting of the past during their careers.

At one time he apparently had a residence and workshop for modelling in the modified Kantakouzenos complex, the complex that had brought him to Greece in the first place. Another source has him living on either Piraeus or Menandrou Street, a neighbour  of Duchess of Plaisance, an early benefactor of the Athens school of Arts; another has him living in a garden home of the Austrian Consul. Siegel was not making a lot of money during his early career which might explain his many moves. His main sources of income were marble busts. In those days before photography, the wealthy liked to immortalize themselves and their families in marble.

 

The School of Fine Arts

His work must have appreciated though because 1847 saw him, at the age of 41, hired to teach modelling and sculpture at the Athens school of Fine Arts, a position he would hold until 1859. This school was responsible for turning Greek marble workers into accomplished artists. The school had first opened in 1836 on weekends only because its students, of necessity, had day jobs. It apparently taught the Greek language as well because some of its early students had not attended school long enough to gain literacy or had not attended at all. By 1840, it was offering daily classes.  The influence of this school and the art its graduates produced for buildings and public spaces in Athens would be impossible to over-estimate.

Siegel’s students read like a who’s who of 19^th century Greek sculpture:  the Kossos brothers, Demitrios (1819-1872) and Ioannis (1822-73), the Fytalis Brothers, Georgos ( 1830-73) and Lazaros (1831-1909) and, later,  Leonidas Drosis (1834-1882) who did so much of the sculptural decoration for the Athens university and is now considered the greatest exponent of neoclassicism in Greece. He would have been 15 when Siegel stopped teaching, but many began their schooling at that age or younger. In any case, Siegel was a major influence. (6)

 

Some Neoclassic Busts of the Era

 

Psyche by Ioannis Kossos

 

Queen Amalia of Greece by the Fytalis Brothers now in the National Historical Museum on Stadiou Street

 

The Fytalis brothers again in 1883

 

 

 

 Leonidas Drossis’ bust of Irini Mavrokordatos.

 

The Marble Trade

As you might expect of any sculptor in Greece, Siegel was fascinated by its storied ancient quarries, many of which were still producing.  Marble was big business in the 19^th century and there was an ever growing export market. Architects, diplomats, philhellenes and the artists themselves were eager to invest. Architect and town planner, Stamatis Kleanthis, already owned quarries on the island of Tinos in the 1840s. Siegel’s first investment was a quarry in Axinoi, on Tinos circa 1849-50.  He successfully presented some of this marble at an exhibition in London in 1851. The Prussian king was so impressed, he made a large order through Karl Kloebe, his consul in Greece. Kloebe and Christian went into the marble business together. This is all very vague because there are very few records of ownership during this period.  We do know that when Siegel died, Kloebe continued their business for a time.

Between 1850 and 1855, Siegel was often abroad, accepting European commissions and promoting Greek marble.

In 1857 he rediscovered the ancient marble quarries near Lagia (above the village of Dimaristika) in the Mani which contained the famous rosy rosso antico, quarried in Greece since Mycenean times.  Even today it is an out of the way spot. It must have seemed like the back of the moon to Siegel

 

The Quarry near Lagia. Visiting today is still an adventure.

1859 saw him investing in another Tinian quarry, this time with green veins.  Siegel could now boast red and green Greek marble, perhaps the rarest hues of all.

 

 

 

 

Siegel in the First Cemetery

 

Section 4, Number 102

 

In 1864, Siegel created the grave stele of Elisabeth Werberg in the First Cemetery. It is a bas relief, a version of the Mourning Spirit whose appearance in one form or another goes back to antiquity.  She (or he in some cases, with or without wings), was a favourite motif in the 19^th century and depictions go from severe neoclassical to downright romantic.  She holds a long torch upside down to symbolize the end of life. The mourning spirit and the extinguished (or extinguishing) torch can be seen over and over again in the First Cemetery. That little Athenian owl at her feet is a harbinger of death; the laurel it is perched on a symbol of a life well lived.  Siegel signed his name ΣΙΓΚΕΛΟΣ under the angel’s feet.  (ΑΘΗΝΗΘΕΝ ΕΡΓΟΝ ΣΙΓΕΛΟΣ)

If this angel is not a perfect fit into the neoclassical mould promoted at the School of Fine Arts, it does well to remember that funeral monuments were an important source of income for sculptors in Greece, and were made to please the tastes of the families of the deceased.

Siegel’s angel closely resembles in stance and expression an earlier and smaller Mourning Spirit on a tomb of the Malakates brothers.

 

The Damaskinos Family, Section One, Number 172: Same hair, same pose, but no owl or laurel.

 

A Fytalis brothers’ mourning angel in Section 4, Number 183 done in 1883 with an owl

 

It can be an interesting pastime to track down these mourning figures and their symbols while walking in the First Cemetery. Some sport owls, others lamps or wreaths.  All wear classical dress even if some of it is draped over a naked form.

 

 Siegel’s Last Years and another Lion

Siegel’s career may have got off the ground with a sleeping lion, but it was intended to end with a sitting one. The head and paws of the Lion of Chaironeia had been discovered by British travellers in 1820 who promptly reburied it in order to save it for the British Museum. Luckily that never happened. There were several efforts to resurrect the lion, some of which involved Siegel.

 

The lion had been erected by Thebes to commemorate their war dead (the Sacred Band) after their defeat by Phillip of Macedonin in 388 BC

 

The Greek Archaeological Society had considered a restoration in 1839 and had successfully petitioned King Othon for the task, assuring him that German donors would pay the bill. That plan fell through in 1843 after a Greek uprising forced Othon to grant the country a constitution.  This offended the donors. It seems they were willing to patronise only as long as they could also be patronising. They withdrew their money, their leader dismissing Greece as an ‘uppity mini country’.  German phihellenism had its limits!

Siegel submitted his plan for restoring the lion in 1856 but nothing happened, not even after the summer of 1879 when he travelled to the site with Lazaris Fytalis in another attempt to resurrect the beast. Siegel was in his 70s then and still going strong. He wanted to take part in the excavation of ancient Chaironeia as well as placing the lion back on its paws.  

 

The lion finally roared in 1902, and is a bit of a patchwork, not much of it Siegel’s.

 

Seigel died in 1883 and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery under a monument he would surely have approved of.

 

 

 

 

                  

In an obituary at the time, his connection with the marble quarries in Lakonia and Tinos are mentioned. But his real legacy was the students he taught.

 

Footnotes

(1)   A dress code exception was made for heroes of the revolution such as Varvakis and Capodistria.

(2)  Some say 1835.

(3)  The site, or part of it, is now the Athens Municipal Gallery, and well worth a visit if only to explore the old building and the area.

 

The Old silk factory has had a stylish makeover

(4)  The Bavarian Guards who were sent to Greece, many of whom stayed on, have kind of slipped out of the national consciousness. They did not all die of Typhoid as the small Catholic church in the suburb of Palio Iraklio (an area set aside for the troops to live) testifies.

(5)  Or maybe on King Ludwig who perhaps wanted to outdo the one in Lucerne.

(6)  Whether or not the Malakates brothers from Tinos attended the school in its early days is unknown to me. They opened an Athenian  workshop in 1834 and were reputed to be self taught. But, either they picked up the neoclassicist aesthetic from the air, or they too were early weekend attendees.

 

Sources

Sources on Siegel are few and far between

https://slpress.gr/politismos/enas-germanos-glyptis-sto-metaxoyrgeio/ best article on him

Material on Chaironeia from https://berlinarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/ma-2008.pdf

 

 

Giorgios Vitalis, Sculptor

 

 

Giorgios Vitalis                                               ΓΙΩΡΓΙΟΣ  ΒΙΤΑΛΗΣ                           

Born 1838                                                       Died1901

 

 

Giorgios Vitalis was one of Greece’s great 19^th century sculptors in an era when marble was king and neoclassicism flourished. His works became famous for their attention to even the smallest detail. In that respect, he was a perfectionist.  He has only one work in the First Cemetery of Athens: the mausoleum of George Averoff.  It is very grand and hard to miss as you enter the gates of the cemetery. Even so, it may not completely represent his aesthetic because it was completed after his death. His career is an interesting one and one that illustrates the frustrations that sculptors underwent in showing their works and, in a competitive market, being true to their own artistic impulses.

 

Averoff’s mausoleum in the First Cemetery

His Life

Giorgιos was born in Ysternia on the island of Tinos in 1838 just a few years after the birth of the Greek nation. He was the son of a building contractor and, after graduating from high school began to work alongside his father in Smyrna on the Asia Minor coast.  The population there was predominantly Greek and still under Ottoman control.

At 19, he realized that he wanted something more. Without informing his father, he travelled to Athens and, at the age of 19, enrolled in its Polytechnical School.  To make ends meet, he worked in the marble studio of his cousin and fellow Tinian, Giorgios Fytalis, who was a professor of Sculpture at the Athens School of Arts.

Giorgios graduated in 1862 and worked for Fytalis for seven long years until a new opportunity arose. He was offered a scholarship sponsored by Queen Amalia. With the support of her father-in-law and famous Philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Vitalis was able to study at the Academy in Munich under the tutelage of Professor Max Von Windmann who was king Ludwig’s favourite sculptor.

 

 

 

A Von Windmann statue of Schiller

Giorgios married the daughter of a Bavarian doctor and the family tried to persuade him to stay in Munich.   He was offered a position at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, but he wanted to return to Greece.

He settled in Syros, where he established his marble workshop and would remain for the next 30 years. Ermoupoli, Syros’capital, was a wonderful choice for an ambitious sculptor. In those years it was a bustling maritime and commercial centre and its inhabitants had deep enough pockets to realize their marble fantasies! Syros is still a wonderful place to visit for a flavour of what 19^th century Greek art was all about.  From 1870-1882 and again in 1895-98, Syros had a dynamic mayor in the person of Dimitrios Vafiadakis who was instrumental in getting the fabulous city hall built by Ernst Ziller and in encouraging works of sculpture to decorate the town’s many squares and churches. 

 

 

The main square of Ermoupolis, backed by Ziller’s masterpiece and tiled in marble, was called by one enthusiast an outdoor ballroom. On the left is a Vitalis dais or bandstand dedicated to the Muses.

Of course, Vitalis was not just a local island phenomenon. His works soon became popular and won many prizes at exhibitions. His sculptures of Greek heroes such as Opheus, Paris, Theseas, Oedipus, or Hector, decorated the royal palace in Athens, and the homes of wealthy and influential collectors such as Stefanos Skouloudis. Even Sofia, the sister and hostess of Prime Minister Harilaos Trikoupis owned a Vitalis.  Depictions of ancient Greeks in the classical style were very much in vogue at the time and something of a Vitalis speciality although he could create works of modern heroes, if commissioned - as his statue of William Gladstone proves.

The Problem of Exhibiting Works in Greece

It was all very well to chisel away in one’s workshop, but marble statues were an expensive commodity in a small, competitive market and the problem of how to exhibit their works in a way that would attract Greek (and hopefully international) attention was a pressing problem. Greek sculptors did not want their marble careers to be only about monuments in cemeteries. (Ironically, the fact that they were a great part of their work in places like the First Cemetery in Athens has left us a legacy we appreciate very much!).

 There were competitive exhibitions in centres like Paris and Rome but in Greece – nothing!

Nothing, that is until one of Greece’s great benefactors, Evangelos Zappas, decided to relight the ancient Olympic torch and financed several of what we might now call previews of the international Olympics held in 1896 in Athens. Zappas sponsored these ‘pre-Olympic Games’ beginning in 1859 well before there was any suitable venue or international interest. There was no Olympic stadium back then, The first athletic events were held in Klafthmonas Square in the centre of Athens. What was important about this Olympic effort to sculptors like Vitalis was that in these revived  ‘games’, art, as it had been in ancient Greece, became a competitive category.

 

 

 

 

 

       

One of the 1875 medals mentioning Zappas on one side and showing King George I on the other

Ancient Greeks may have chosen their jurors by lot, but almost everything else was settled by a contest – and not just athletics. Drama, singing, and poetry had all been included. There was even a kissing contest in some games - among men only, of course. (1)  So Zappas’ revival of art categories with prizes of gold, silver and bronze medals had a real pedigree.

 

Greek sculptors rushed to enter the contests held in the ‘Olympics’ in 1856, 1860, 1870, 1875, and 1888 and in other contests tendered by cultural organizations of one sort or another. They presented either completed works or models of projected work to be examined and judged by the perceived experts of the time. In 1870, Vitalis won the Silver Medal and in 1875, the  Bronze in the Olympic contests of those years.

 

This Statue of Theseus, created in 1868, was shown at the ‘Olympics’ of 1870 and now graces the area outside of the metro (electrico) in Plateia Thissio.

 

 

Of course, it is easier to determine who is best in a foot race or a boxing match than with art where judges cannot help bringing in their own points of view and in this period, austere classicism was the prevailing taste, so it is not surprising that sculptors who dared to be modern, or even embellish the classical ideal, believed that their work was not being judged on its merits or – worse - that the ‘fix’ was in because the pool of experts judging these things was small and usually traditionalist.  If an artist felt slighted, he could appeal to the court of public opinion – newspapers during this period were more than happy to enter the cultural arena, especially if a potential scandal was in the making.  

This was the climate for all sculptors of the era.

 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ermoupolis

 

In 1880, Vitalis created an impressive monument for Ermoupolis.  By that time, he was already a master craftsman. Vitalis had first presented the city with a small model of the work after having consulted his friend Ernst Ziller (2), the architect of Syros’ city hall and no mean monument designer himself. The town fathers liked what they saw and Vitalis did not disappoint. Its correct title is:  the Unburied Unknown and  it commemorated the heroes who had fought and died during the fight for independence from the Ottomans.

 

 

The monument is topped by a lion (3) stretched out on a garlanded sarcophagus of Tinian marble. The lion symbolizes the bravery of the warriors who, like the lion, are now at rest. A classical female figure, barefooted and scantily clad, represents Ermoupolis as she kneels with her back to the viewer. There is a laurel branch in her left hand, meant to crown the victors. With her raised right hand she completes the epitaph of the heroes who had come to Ermoupolis and died anonymously in battle. The text ends by saying that the monument had been placed at public expense by ‘we, the inhabitants, of Ermoupolis’.

 

According to those who know (4) the monument is a blend of pure classicism (the female figure) with 19^th century neoclassical highlights (the lion atop the sarcophagus and other decorative features) that were popular at the time. The female figure is beautifully done.

 

As an interesting aside, the monument was first placed high on Dilis Ηill  (one of the two in Ermoupolis) in front of the Agios Anastasis Church, but it became a target for stone throwing local children. So in 1888, it was moved to its present location in front of the Agios Nikolaos Church closer to the town centre and where it was easier to keep an eye on errant youngsters! While you are there, go inside the church because Vitalis created the impressive iconostasis of this church dedicated to Ermoupolis’ patron saint, and designed that elaborate Bishop’s chair as well:

 

 

 The Statue of William Gladstone

In 1883 the senate of the Greek Academy decided to sponsor a statue of English Prime Minister William Gladstone. Gladstone was chosen because he had proved himself invaluable obtaining Thessaly for Greece in 1881. The tender for submissions was specific as relates to size and material (marble of course), but expression, the stance, and the mode of dress were left up to the sculptor. Vitalis wasn’t taking any chances. He created three models for the committee to judge. Dimitris Filippotis, another well known sculptor who had often been sidelined by the traditional art world because he refused to follow the strict rules of neoclassicism, also entered a model of Gladstone for consideration. After the usual deliberations, Vitalis was named the winner.  However, many claimed that the Filippotis’ model was by far the best. When the British ambassador had seen it, he had exclaimed, That’s Gladstone!  The press was there to add fuel to the fire and reported that when the ambassador discovered that Filippotis’ model had been rejected, he broke his cane in anger. Filippotis demanded that his model be exhibited so it could be compared easily to Vitalis’. The debate became so heated that Prime Minister Tricoupis himself felt compelled to go and view the two models.

Vitalis won.  

 

One of the conditions was that the winner had to travel to London to study the subject in person, so Vitalis set off to London for a three month period before showing the committee his final work. For many years after Gladstone was turned into marble, his statue was not officially unveiled or placed - for reasons I cannot discover. It may have been financial because no one had considered the cost of the pedestal. Poor Gladstone! Many years passed before the statue was actually placed in the garden of the University of Athens where it stands today. Still, Gladstone does have the singular honour of being the only foreigner to grace the forecourt of the University buildings.

 

 

William at last!

He is posed as a rhetorician in contemporary dress, turning slightly as he speaks with one hand raised. At his feet are two tomes of Homer – he was quite a Homeric scholar. I love that left foot just ready to stride into thin air. It is a touch I have noticed on many statues of the period and it never fails to please. The work is an interesting blend of a classical pose mixed with realism.

It’s a pretty good likeness too:

 

 

 

Problems with contests for works continued all through the era. In 1888, when  the Byron Club announced they were in the market for a bust of Byron, the official deadline was apparently stretched to allow Vitalis more time to send his model over from Syros. The press and other contestants immediately cried foul and the committee was compelled to hold another contest.

Vitalis still won.

 

Byron’s bust with a nicely windswept scarf and immaculate coiffure

The Statues of George Averoff

Vitalis spent the last 2 years of his life in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. There was still a large Greek population in that city and his mission was to complete two statues of Greece’s great benefactor Giorgios Averoff, a man who had done so much for both cities. He did complete the statue intended for Alexandria’s Tositsas School. (Tositsas, another of Greece’s benefactors, is buried in the First). It is imposing in a style we have come to expect from Vitalis and very reminiscent of the Gladstone statue he had completed years before for the Athens Academy.

 

Seated at the base of the statue are two female figures, The one on the right represented the Spirit Education and the one of the Left, Benevolence or Kindness.

He died before he could realize the statue of Averoff made for the Athens First Cemetery the base of which was intended to house the bones of the great man when they were brought back from Alexandria. His sculpture was realized by his son Ioannis and by sculptor Dimitrios Filippotis, his old rival for the statue of Gladstone.

 

 

The Dais in the Main Square of Ermoupolis

This dais or bandstand was inaugurated in 1907, well after the sculptor’s death. This highlights another aspect of sculpture as an art form.  Sculptors made models of their work in plaster or wax to show collectors or institutions. Sometimes they made several, and it was rare for an artist to actually chisel the work, especially if large. Marble sculpture was a collaborative art. Every marble workshop had technicians for this although the master might take a hand in fine details.

(See http://athensfirstcemeteryinenglish.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-sculptors-studio.html)

Therefore, it was perfectly possible that any sculptor’s work could be created and exhibited after his or her death.  The models for famous works have often been almost prized as much as the final product and many are shown in museums in Greece.

 

 

 The Dias: apparently because of wells underneath the structure, it is a perfect echo chamber...

 

 

 

As seen in an old postcard

The bandstand, with its ten lampposts, is decorated by bas reliefs of Apollo  and the nine muses, a lovely blend of form and function. The city’s orchestra uses it regularly.

 

 

One of the muses: Melpomene, the muse of Tragedy

 

 

Other Works of Vitalis

In the Ermoupolis Cemetery:

Because he was a resident of Ermoupolis, its cemetery benefitted from his work more than Athens. This is an excellent example of his aesthetic. All the motifs shown were popular for funeral monuments at the time. This cemetery should be on your itinerary if you visit Syros.

 

 

 

In Messolonghi:

 

The statue of Byron which has been placed over his buried heart. The face is vitually identical to the bust of Byron shown earlier. Quite often a sculptor might make a bust of his larger work and sell it or display it separately  

 

 

Footnotes

 

(1) A kissing contest was held annually in Megara to honour their hero Diocles.

(2) Ziller had designed the tomb of Heinrich Schliemann in the First Cemetery of Athens, among others.

(3) It would be fun to do a study of lions and funerary monuments,  partly because of their association with Bavaria and more because of their archetypal associations, they were a favoured species for cemeteries. I always like to stop and take a look. There is an especially nice one beside the Tomb of Syngros in the First cemetery – not to mention Vitalis’ lions on the mausoleum of Averoff.

(4) My source is Dr.  Katerina Tzavelopoulos (Κατερίνας Τζαβελοπούλος)