Joseph Theodor Hansen

Hansen created the present work and following three lots of modern Greece during his visit in 1881-1882. His meticulous technique and luminous palette were inspired by the work of his distinguished Danish predecessors Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and Constantin Hansen.

Hansen's prolific output of topographical views was in response to a burgeoning market for painted souvenirs of Europe's cities and historical sites, stimulated by increasing tourism among the new middle classes. The popularity of the Grand Tour, reaching its apex in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, established a traditional European itinerary. A remaining sense of philhellenism stemming from Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832 as well as a fascination for classical antiquity encouraged many travellers and artists such as Hansen to visit Greece to admire its rich cultural heritage.