Euterpe Ionides (1816-1892)
Freedom Fighters in Constantinople, circa 1860-70
signed, oil on canvas
61 x 81 cm
Provenance:
Property of a Lady, London until 2000
Literature:
Rags or Riches by Peter Constant page 412, illustrated in colour
Illustrated Parthenon Exhibition, 10th March- 10th April 2015, The Cyprus Brotherhood Centre, London
back cover illustration of catalogue
Price on request
The struggle of the Greek for freedom has been the main preoccupation of the Greek nation ever since 500 BC. It has always been a fight and battle against much stronger opponents from Marathonas to Thermopylea, from Salamina to Navarino, from Pindos to SKRA 1940-41.
Even after Greek Independence against a much stronger Ottoman Turkey, many parts of Greece were still under slavery for many years, and this scene, in Istanbul’s Slave Bazaar portraying the sale of Greek women as slaves and children taken away from their mothers to be turned into fierce Janissaries, continued for decades after independence.