Nikiforos Lytras (1832-1904)

Aliases: Nikephoros Lytras; Nikiphoros Lytras

Professions: Painter

• 

  

  f - NIKIFOROS LYTRAS GREEK, 1832-1904

• 

  

  PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SCANDINAVIA NIKIFOROS LYTRAS GREEK, 1832-1904 IN THE KITCHEN

• 

  

  PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, FRANCE NIKIFOROS LYTRAS GREEK, 1832-1904 THE EASTER EGG

• 

  

  NIKIFOROS LYTRAS GREEK, 1832-1904

• Lytras Related Content
• Lytras Sold at Auction
• Lytras in Galleries Now

Biography: Lytras

(b Tinos, 1832; d Athens, 14 June 1904). Greek painter and teacher. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens (1850–56) and then at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich (1860–1865) under Karl Theodor von Piloty. Among his fellow pupils were Hans Makart, Franz Defregger, Franz von Lenbach and Wilhelm Leibl. Returning to Athens in 1866, Lytras became professor of painting in the Art School of the Polytechnic. The subjects of Lytras’s first paintings are historical and mythological, for example the Burning of the Turkish Flag-ship by Canaris (1866–70), Antigone Confronted with the Dead Polynices (1865; Athens, N. Gal.). After 1870, however, he turned to genre painting and portraits, responding to the wishes of the wealthy members of the new Athenian bourgeoisie. Characteristic examples from this period include Return from the Fair at Penteli (c. 1870; Athens, N.G.), of primarily sociological interest; The Kalanda Carol Singing (1870–75; Athens, Serpieri Col.); Lamentation at Psara (c. 1880; Athens, N.G.) with a strong folkloric character; and portraits such as that of Lysander Kavtandzoglou (1885–90; Athens, N.G.). Lytras was one of the main Greek representatives of the Munich-trained painters. Although he adhered to the tenets of academic realism, he was able to bring to his work a significant element of personal distinction.

Back to the Top

Lytras Related Content

• Auction Houses

• • Other Houses (3)
  • Bonhams
  • Christie's
  • Sotheby's

Back to the Top