We examine the work
of 19th-century German painters as presented in the Greek-language magazine Kleiō
published in Germany in the late 19th century. Through an extensive catalogue
of paintings, the article highlights the themes that preoccupied German
painters during this period. It places particular emphasis on their approach,
aesthetic preferences, the decisive role played by the Academies of Fine Arts,
and their attitudes towards the modern movements developing in France during
the 19th century. It explores the reasons for which Kleiō magazine
promoted academic German painting to its Greek readership. It reports the
particularly close relations between Greece and Germany during this period and
the fact that many Greek painters completed their studies at the Munich Academy
of Fine Arts. Since for most of the 19th century, Germany was deeply influenced
by the achievements of ancient Greek art, many German painters opposed
modernism, instead upholding what they perceived to be the values and ideals of
classical antiquity integrating them into German art.
