The Greek War of Independence, which was fought 1821-32, provided the motif for several of Lodovico Lipparini’s (1800-56) works. The establishment of the Kingdom of Greece was finally achieved when the Turkish Sultan recognised Greek independence and Otto of Bavaria (1815-67) accepted the throne of Greece in 1832. From 1831, Lipparini taught in the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice – a city in which Greek culture had played a significant role and where there had been a colony of wealthy Greek merchants for centuries. Even in Thorvaldsen’s day there were for instance publishers in Venice specialising in books for the Greek market.
The soldier has collapsed. But fatal physical mutilation and blood have made way for the sufferings of the individual human being in Lipparini’s lithograph. It is a Romantic view. Certainly the war is presented in the shape of a heroic figure, but at the same time the costumes are used as a romanticising national symbol akin to folklore. In this sense, the motif is anything but unambiguous. And so it is always possible to discuss the extent to which this lithograph reflects an interest in the war itself or whether it perhaps rather reflects the new interest in Oriental features in the eastern Mediterranean cultures. This is an interest found in several of the artists of that time throughout Europe.
