Lot 33: Nicholaos Chimonas (Greek 1866-1929)

View of Delos
signed in greek (lower left)
oil on canvas laid down on board
33 x 49 cm. (13 x 19 1/4 in.)

Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Chimonas travelled widely in Europe before settling in Greece in 1920. The artist is known primarily for his landscapes and a work similar to the present painting is in the collection of the National Gallery in Athens. (Delos, 1926, oil on canvas, 36 x 45cm, Inventory no. 1785).

The luminous colours of the ancient site's sun-drenched vista and the sea beyond convey some of the mystical energy of Delos, which in antiquity was the political and religious centre of the Aegean. Birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, the island boasted a famous temple of Apollo and a famous oracle second only to that of Delphi.