Fugitives from Constantinople, 1875. Wood engraving by Henry Duff Linton, 8 x 13 ⅜ inches (20.3 x 33.9 cm) – image size. Private collection.
Fugitives from Constantinople was shown at the Royal Academy in 1875, no. 386, the final painting in a trilogy of Venetian subjects Wallis exhibited there from 1873-75. This subject deals with the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire to the invading Turkish army of the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Mehmed II, which occurred on May 29, 1453. Many Greeks left the city, either prior to or during the siege, and fled to Italy, particularly Venice. The arrival of these intellectuals from Constantinople helped initiate the Renaissance in Italy.
W. M. Rossetti in The Academy remarked favourably upon the execution and colouration of this picture:
Mr. Wallis may always be counted upon for something realised thoughtfully so far as his purpose is concerned, and vigorously as regards execution. His richly-coloured Fugitives from Constantinople, 1453, responds to both these demands. It has a meaning, intense look: the eye is satiated with opulence of hue, and the mind led onward and inward. Seated on one of the marble benches of the patriarchal church of St. Mark in Venice, we see a splendidly handsome man, some thirty years of age, with a crutch under one armpit, and a youth of sixteen dozing fitfully beside him. Beyond the arcade of the piazza, a great crowd of Venetians has assembled to witness some sight of public or national moment. The sun blazes; the marbles glow and shine with their magical variety of tint; the immemorial pigeons flutter and settle for a moment; the air rings with cries of acclaim. Those two, the Byzantine aliens and refugees, linger apart, in the scene and not of it. Sad memories and poignant thoughts ring them round with a personal solitude. [513]
F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum on May 1, 1875 also professed acclaim for the work: “Mr. Wallis’s Fugitives from Constantinople (386) is superb in colour and most brilliant in lighting. It is a spirited design of a Greek and his son seated on the marble bench at the base of the wall of St. Mark’s, Venice, and watching revellers of the city on a public occasion” (590). Stephens expanded upon his comments in a later review:
“We encounter an original and fine work in Mr. Wallis’s Fugitives from Constantinople (386), a man with an eager Greek face, wearing black and dark red robes, and seated. He leans his armpit on the head of a stick, and watches a Venetian festival; a boy, his son, reclines on the man’s knee. Behind this group are the coloured marbles of the wall of St. Mark’s, on the bench of which, the pair are placed. This is a brilliant, rich, strongly-painted, and solid picture, the work of an accomplished painter, who does not care to reproduce the technical ideas of others, nor to repeat himself too often; accordingly, this is one of the paintings of the year” (756).
The whereabouts of the painting is now unknown, but its composition can be ascertained thanks to a wood engraving by Henry Duff Linton published in Harper’s Weekly in 1875 on page 757.
Links to Related Material
Bibliography
Lessens, Ronald and Dennis T. Lanigan. Henry Wallis. From Pre-Raphaelite Painter to Collector/Connoisseur. Woodbridge: ACC Art Books, 2019, cat. 99, 133-34.
Rossetti, William Michael. “The Royal Academy Exhibition.” The Academy VII, (May 15, 1875): 513-14.
Stephens, Frederic George. “Fine Arts. The Royal Academy.” The Athenaeum No. 2479 (May 1, 1875): 590-93.
Stephens, Frederic George. “The Royal Academy.” The Athenaeum No. 2484 (June 5, 1875): 755-56.
Bibliography
Last modified 17 October 2022