ABSTRACT
In the 1820s and 1830s, foreign painters such as Delacroix, Peter von Hess and Karl Krazeisen depicted through a “philhellenic gaze” the main episodes and figures of the Greek War of Independence, setting the standards for historical representation in the national grand narrative. The first chapter investigates how a visual canon for the historical memory of the Greek Revolution was shaped through cultural transfers and political conflicts during the 19th century. Based on a large array of images, available for public viewing and consumed via mass production, the chapter explores how Greek society remembered that major historical event. Historical painting, portraits and photographs are analyzed as “realms of memory”, elements of a gradually canonized historical culture. The analysis shows the power of images – rather than historical inquiry – in consolidating certain revolutionary myths as historical “truth”. Interestingly, the visual canon transcended both learned and popular culture as proven by the illustrations in popular magazines and the canvases or frescoes of naïve and folk painters. The pantheon of “great men” and heroes of the Greek Revolution has been reproduced and recycled ever since in a variety of cultural products.
