Leonidas Drosis

Leonidas Drosis
Ioannis Kapodistrias' statue in Corfu (city)
Close up view of the Athena column, Academy of Athens (modern)

Leonidas Drosis (Greek: Λεωνίδας Δρόσης; (1834/1836/1843 - 1882) was a Greek neoclassical sculptor of the 19th century.

Born in Tripoli or Nafplion,[1] to a German (Bavarian) father named Von Dorsch, who was a soldier and musician, and a Greek mother named Meksi, he later took the Greek surname Drosis due to his love for Greece and because he identified solely as Greek.[1][2][3] He later studied in Athens and Munich on a scholarship provided by Simon Sinas.

Drosis's major work is the extensive neo-classical architectural ornament at the Academy of Athens, for the Danish-Austrian architect Theophil Hansen. The Academy was also funded largely by Sinas. Drosis sculpted the principle multi-figure pediment sculpture, on the theme of the birth of Athena, based on a design by painter Carl Rahl. This brought first prize at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873.[4] Drosis is also responsible for the figures of Athena and Apollo with lyre on the Academy's flanking pillars, and the seated marble figures of Plato and Socrates, which were executed "by the Italian sculptor Piccarelli"[5] (the eight smaller pediments in the Academy complex are the terra-cotta work of Austrian sculptor Franz Melnitzky).[6]

Drosis died in Naples in 1882.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Κομίνη-Διαλέτη, Δώρα (1997). Λεξικό ελλήνων καλλιτεχνών: ζωγράφοι, γλύπτες, χαράκτες, 16ος-20ός αιώνας (in Greek). Μελισσα. p. 392. ISBN 978-960-204-035-5. Δρόσης, Λεωνίδας: Γλύπτης I.1. Τρίπολη ή Ναύπλιο, 1834 - Νάπολη Ιταλίας , 1882. Η μητέρα του ήταν Ελληνίδα και ο πατέρας του Γερμανός, ο στρατιωτικός μουσικός von Dorsch, που ήταν και κατασκευαστής μουσικών οργάνων.[His mother was Greek and his father German, the military musician von Dorsch, who was also a maker of musical instruments]
  2. ^ George D. Dimacopoulos (1962). Historia tēs Neoellēnikēs technēs: zōgraphikēs, glyptikēs, charaktikēs, architektonikēs kai diakosmētikēs : 1821-1941, Volume 1. To Hellēniko Vivlio. p. 251. Ο Λεωνίδας Δρόσης γεννήθηκε στην Αθήνα το 1843. Ο πατέρας του ήταν Βαυαρός και λέγονταν Φον Ντρός (Von Dorsch) κ' η μητέρα του Ελληνίδα από την οικογένεια Μέξη. Μα ο Λεωνίδας άφισε το Γερμανικό του όνομα , πήρε το Ελληνικό Δρόσης και εξελληνίστηκε ολότελα.[Leonidas Drosis was born in Athens in 1843. His father was Bavarian and his name was Von Dorsch and his mother was Greek from the Mexi family. But Leonidas left his German name, took the Greek name of Drosis and became completely Hellenized]
  3. ^ "Λεωνίδας Δρόσης". Nea hestia (in Greek). I. D. Kollaros & Sa. 1955. p. 1431. Ο γλύπτης Λεωνίδας, ποὺ ἀγαποῦσε θερμὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ ἤθελε νἆναι μονάχα Ελληνας, ἄφησε τὸ γερμανικὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατέρα του, ἐπῆρε τὸ ἑλληνικὸ Δρόσης...
  4. ^ "Academy of Athens". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Academy of Athens". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  6. ^ Neoclassical Architecture in Greece, by Mānos G. Bīris, Márō Kardamítsī-Adámī, page 142