Greek Painter in Munich: Nikolaos Gyzis

In his witty painting Eros and the Painter, Nikolaos Gyzis shows an artist with her sketchpad propped up in her lap.

She directs a reluctant boy to pose for Eros, the Cupid-like god of love, who clutches an arrow, while a bird's wing is propped up behind him for reference.

In his painting Boy with Cherries, the boy has the curious expression of someone who has just eaten a cherry, and his cheek is sticking out a little. 

Portrait by Nikolaos Gyzis

Many of his paintings have the naturalistic form rendering and dark backgrounds reminiscent of other artists who had training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, such as Frank Duveneck (1848-1919) and William Merritt Chase (1849-1916).

Psyche by Nikolaos Gyzis

Gyzis was inspired by Gustave Courbet when he saw some of the French painter's works that were shown in a Munich exhibition in 1869. But Courbet didn't like to paint mythological figures, saying: "I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I'll paint one."
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More about Nikolaos Gyzis, (Greek 1842-1901)