Count Ioannis Kapodistrias #2

by Antonios Valamontes

Original - Not For Sale

Price

$2,500

Dimensions

23.000 x 30.000 x 1.500 inches

Title

Count Ioannis Kapodistrias #2

Artist

Antonios Valamontes

Medium

Painting - Oil On Portrait

Description

Portrait of Count Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831) as a diplomat at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ioánnis Antónios, Komis Kapodístrias (born February 11, 1776, Corfu [Greece]—died October 9, 1831, Návplion, Greece) was a Greek statesman who was prominent in the Russian foreign service during the reign of Alexander I (reigned 1801–25) and in the Greek struggle for independence.

The son of Komis Antonio Capo d’Istria was born in Corfu (under Venetian rule at that time), studied at Padua, and then entered government service. In 1799, Russia and Turkey drove the French from the Ionian Islands and organized them into the Septinsular Republic. Kapodístrias participated in writing the new state’s second constitution (adopted 1803) and became its secretary of state (1803). France regained control of the islands (1807), however, and Kapodístrias entered the Russian foreign service (1809). He became an expert on Balkan affairs, which earned him a post as the commander of Russia’s armed forces on the lower Danube River (1812). After the army marched north to oppose Napoleon’s invasion of Russia (1812), Kapodístrias was assigned as a diplomat to the army staff (1813) and later sent by Alexander I on a special mission to Switzerland (1814).

After attending the postwar Congress of Vienna as one of Russia’s representatives (1814–15), Kapodístrias became a highly influential adviser to the emperor. After January 1816, he was given equal responsibility with Karl Robert Nesselrode, the director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the conduct of Russia’s foreign policy.

Kapodístrias, however, expressed doubts about Alexander’s Holy Alliance with Austria and Prussia and objected to Russia’s approval of Austria’s suppression of the revolts in Naples and Piedmont (1820–21). Consequently, he earned the political enmity of Austria’s chancellor, Metternich, who used his increasing influence over Alexander to undermine Kapodístrias’ position. When Alexander refused to support the Greek revolt against Turkey (begun March 1821), Kapodístrias, who had a deep sympathy for the cause of Greek independence, although he had earlier refused to lead the major Greek revolutionary organization, found himself in an intolerable position. In 1822, therefore, he took an extended leave of absence from the Russian service and settled in Geneva, where he devoted himself to supplying material and moral relief to the Greek rebels until April 1827, when he was elected provisional president of Greece.

Resigning from the Russian service, he then toured Europe seeking financial and diplomatic support for the War of Greek Independence and arrived at Návplion (Nauplia), Greece’s capital, in January 1828. He subsequently directed his energies toward negotiating with Great Britain, France, and Russia (which had all joined the war against the Turks) over the settlement of Greece’s frontiers and the selection of its new monarch. He became the leader of a party with pro-Russian sympathies. He also worked to organize an effective government apparatus and to subordinate powerful, semiautonomous local leaders to the authority of the new state. In the process, however, he acquired many enemies, two of whom, Konstantinos and Georgios Mavromikhalis of Maina, assassinated Kapodístrias as he entered a church.

Original Painter: by Gerasimos Pizzamanos, oil painting on paper.

© R is designated that the painting is a reproduction

Synopsis: A man dressed in historical clothing poses for a portrait, exuding a formal and distinguished air. He wears a dark jacket with intricate embroidery, a white shirt, a red sash, and a badge or order on his left chest, suggesting a position of status or nobility.

Uploaded

March 12th, 2024

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