Property of a lady Theodore Poulakis (1622 - 1692) The Seve...

Estimate

£12,000 - £15,000

Property of a lady

Theodore Poulakis (1622 - 1692)
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus


Dimensions:
9 in. (H) x 11 in. (W)

Theodore Poulakis (1622–1692) was a Greek Renaissance painter and teacher. He is considered the father of the Heptanese School and one of the most prolific painters of the Venetian Crete tradition.

By the age of twenty-four, he was living in Venice. He stayed there for thirteen years until 1657.  He was a member of the Quaranta council. Other famous Greek painters El Greco, Philotheos Skoufos, Emmanuel Tzanes, Konstantinos Tzanes, and Ioannis Moskos were all living in Venice around the time and represent a clear movement of Cretan painters within Venice. Poulakis was recorded as a member of the Greek Brotherhood of Venice in 1654.

In 1657, Poulakis migrated to Corfu. He signed a six-year contract to teach painting to Marinos Damistras' son Tzorzi. According to the contract, Tzorzi had to follow Poulakis anywhere he went including Venice. Poulakis also traveled to Cephalonia where he painted. By 1671, he was back in Venice and one year later he was voted a member of the Quaranta e Gionta. By 1675, he was back in Corfu where he lived out the remainder of his life. He died on November 16, 1692.

The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus is a predominantly Christian story cited as a metaphor for the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body. According to the story, during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Decius, seven (eight in some versions) Christian soldiers, in order to avoid pagan sacrifices, were concealed in a cave near Ephesus, to which the entry was later sealed. They fell into a miraculous sleep, being rescued 200 years later under the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II. The story is one of the many examples of a person who falls asleep and years later wakes up to find the world changed. The main source for the story is Menologion (Lives of Saints, Symeon Metaphrastes, 10th century); the story may have some connection to the account of the people of the cave mentioned in the Qur'an. The earlier origins of the seven sleepers could include ancient Hindu scriptures of the story of the deity Indra who underwent penance by hiding in a lotus stem.