025. TOSITSAS D. (19th C)

‘Amvrosios Frantzis’ 1847

Signed dated titled & inscr. oil on canvas laid οn new canvas 60×50 cm

€ 60.000 – 70.000

This original monumental and academic portrait published for the first time on the front page of the newspaper “Agon” in 1938, depicts Amvrosius Frantzis, fighter in the Greek Revolution of 1821, member of the Filiki Eteria, senior diocesan official of the Holy Metropolis of Christianoupolis, historian, politician and diplomat. It was painted by a masterful – yet to date unexplored- 19th century artist who signs as D. Tositsas and dates it 1847. Following the War of Independence and alongside the depictions of historic events Greek art was dominated by the presentation of the heroic fighters of 1821 as moral models of self-sacrifice and bravery, as evidence of the historical continuity of Hellenism. As honor to a hero, this is where this fine unique and museum-quality portrait of Ambrosios Frantzis belongs; he was particularly active during the Revolution. He served as a member of the Peloponnesian Senate and in 1827 he was a representative of Arcadia in the historic National Assembly of Trizina. In January 1821, he, together with Bishop Germanos, took part in the Secret Assembly of Vostitsa; the two are viewed as founding fathers of the revolution in Arcadia. In 1833, at the instigation of the Englishman Edward Manson, he was arrested as a Russophile and imprisoned in Nafplio together with Kolokotronis. After his release under the reign of King Otto, Amvrosios Frantzis, in his capacity as a historian, produced the “Compendium of the History of Reborn Greece beginning in the year 1715 and ending in 1835”; this work described the events of the Revolution of 1821 such as they led to liberating part of Hellenism from the Ottoman yoke. This masterful and historically significant portrait of him as a national hero and as the first historian of the Greek Revolution of 1821; painted in 1847, bears witness to this magnificent national epic.

The painting is listed in the archives of the digital library of the Hellenic Parliament: https://issuu.com/geo815/docs/ Also published: AGON OF TRIFFYLIA – Kyparissia. 1938. (01-12) 01/01/1938 – 26/12/1938. – KYPARISSIA. Weekly newspaper in Kyparissia. Editor: Chr.Constantinidis,, Year ΣΤ-Ζ No. 266-300 https://srv-web1.parliament.gr/lybrary.asp?item=40703