New auction of major Greek art in London
Greek artworks to be auctioned in London next month include Nikiforos Lytras’s self-portrait of the artist in his studio, an elegant man in a bourgeois setting, going at a reserve price of 15,000-20,000 pounds. For collectors of 19th-century Greek art, this is yet another surprise. «Next to the well» is a painting by Constantine Volanakis of a rural setting, light years away from his seascapes and sailing boats (40,000-60,000 pounds). Among 20th-century works are Hadzikyriakos-Ghikas’s «Long Walls,» and «Peloponnese Landscape» by Constantine Maleas, for which bidding is expected to be competitive. The auction is to be held on May 10 in Sotheby’s Olympia Hall. Interest is already intense in these masterpieces by some of the country’s greatest artists, who take Greece with them wherever they may go to work, study or simply travel.
