ART AND POLITICS: THE EXPEDIENCIES OF THE ARTISTIC CHOICES MADE BY THE NEWLYFOUNDED GREEK STATE (1830)

ABSTRACT: The Greek War of Independence, which upset the status quo in Europe in the early 19th century, triggered the interest of the European intelligentsia, because it brought to the forefront a country which hadhistorically concerned European citizens since the time of the Renaissance. Classicism and romanticism, inparticular, were two of the visual arts movements of that time that demonstrated particular interest in the history of a country that appeared to be on the verge of achieving its own national renaissance. It was not justancient history and mythology that resonated with the artists’ feelings; it was the uneven battle fought by the contemporary inhabitants of this small country against a powerful adversary, the Ottoman Turks. Correlatingcontemporary Greeks with ancients Greeks was inevitable. It was the language, the mores and customs, thehistorical places, and the ancient monuments gradually brought to light by archaeologists that madecontemporary Europeans, in particular the literary and artistic intelligentsia, take part, in their own way, in theGreek War of Independence (mainly by providing financial and military support). The illustrative depictionsthat have been saved to this day have some distinctive features, regardless of whether they had beencommissioned by Greek protagonists of the Revolution or originated from Western leaders: these includelinking contemporary Greeks to ancient Greeks, showcasing the development of Greek civilisation through time,directly correlating the Christian Orthodox tradition and the Greek nation, exercising cultural “propaganda”in the form of contemporary cultural diplomacy, as well as the self-evident objective of integratingcontemporary Greece into the West.

Key Words: ancient and contemporary Greece, classicism, cultural diplomacy, Greece and Western Europe,Greek nation, Greek War of Independence, romanticism