Lot 1: THÉODORE JACQUES RALLI (1852-1909) Thirteen drawings for the novel by Di

THÉODORE JACQUES RALLI (1852-1909) Thirteen drawings for the novel by Dimitrios Vikelas ‘Loukis Laras (1879)’ all signed ‘Ralli’ gouache and ink on cardboard 22 x 29 cm, 22.5 x 28.5 cm, 23 x 29 cm, 24 x 29 cm, 24 x 29.5 cm, 24 x 30 cm, 24 x 30.2 cm, 24 x 30.5 cm, 24 x 30.5 cm, 24 x 30.5 cm, 24.5 x 30 cm, 25 x 30.5 cm, 29 x 34 cm. -13

Provenance Dimitrios Vikelas descendants. Exhibited Cairo, Salon, 1892. Athens, Benaki Museum - Museum of Islamic Art, Theodoros Ralli. Looking East, December 11 - February 22, 2015, no. 36, 38, 39 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, pp. 80-81). Literature D. Vikelas, Louki Laras, trad. Auguste, Marquis de Queux de Saint-Hilaire, Librairie de Firmin-Didot, Paris 1892 / Loukis Laras, G. Kasdonis editions, Athens 1892, pp. 14, 35, 87, 91, 92, 129, 132, 137, 151, 170, 188, 231, 240 (illustrated). Journal Officiel newspaper, 15.2.1892. Asty newspaper, 1-2.3.1892. Monte Elegant newspaper [1892], (Th. Ralli archive, A, 43). M. Palioura, The Painting Oeuvre of Theodoros Ralli (1852-1909), doctoral dissertation, University of Athens, Athens 2008, vol. II, no. 5, 12, 27, 29, 30, 39, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 70, 73, p. 377 (illustrated). In 1892, the first illustrated editions of D. Vikelas’s Loukis Laras1 novel were published in Greek and French. To make his novel more attractive and at the same time promote Greek art to a wider audience, the author and legendary Greek businessman, writer and first President of the International Olympic Committee Demetrius Vikelas (1835-1908), commissioned the illustrations from Theodoros Ralli, the dean of Greek orientalist painters. To get a better sense of the place where the story unfolded, the artist made a trip to the island of Chios and prepared his drawings in situ. The end result, a fine collection of graceful and idealised images immersed in an atmosphere of romantic elegance, was met with enthusiastic reviews by both the Greek and French press. The 1892 Loukis Laras edition—the first illustrated edition of a Greek literary work—coincided with Ralli’s Egyptian period (1890-1894) during which the artist resided in Cairo. Some of the initial Loukis Laras drawings premiered at the annual Cairo Salon in February 1891, while the full suite was exhibited at the same venue the following year.2 1. A milestone of 19th c. Greek literature written in Paris in 1878, Loukis Laras relates the adventures of London-based Chiot merchant Lucas Zifos during the Greek War of Independence. 2. See Theodoros Ralli, Looking East, exhibition catalogue, Benaki Museum - Museum of Islamic Art, Athens 2015, p. 17.