Georgios Jakobides

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Georgios Jakobides (Γεώργιος Ιακωβίδης, Lesbos 11 Jan 1853 - Athens 13 Dec 1932) was a Greek painter. He founded the National Gallery in Athens.

[edit] Life

From 1870 to 1876 Jakobides studied sculpture and painting and sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Athens, and in 1877 he went to the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich to continue his painting studies under Karl Theodor von Piloty. In Munich he lived for 17 years, painting mythological scenes, genre pictures, and portraits. His work is influenced by German academic Realism, his most famous paintings were of children. The Greek government invited him in 1900 to return to Athens to organize the National Gallery, and in 1904 he was appointed Director of the School of Fine Arts. At this time, additional to his themes he produced formal portraits of eminent Greeks (e.g.Queen Sophia). He opposed all new artistic tendencies, including Impressionism and Expressionism, but supported younger artists to follow this tendencies.