Constantinos Parthenis Greek, 1878-1967

Parthenis attached considerable importance to drawing and produced some of his finest works in monochrome charcoal. Marina Lambraki-Plaka notes of Parthenis' work of this period that "His work evolved within the same stylistic parameters he had carved out during the preceding decade: large allegorical or historical compositions, idealistic and anti-realistic in character, which frequently developed in the form of a frieze on a 'screen', as the luminous projections of an otherworldly vision. The drawing, which always was of prime importance to Parthenis, contained traces of influences from ancient Greek vase painting, Byzantium and El Greco." (Marina Lanbraki-Plaka, ed., Four Centuries of Greek Painting, Athens, 1999, p. 465).

Another version of the present work in oil was previously in the Loverdos Collection, Athens. Parthenis often repeated his most successful compositions, executing versions in oil and charcoal.