Excerpt from Dr. Nelly Misirli’s book (pages 114-116)

There is another artwork that has a similar style, theme, and period to Orphani (the Orphan Girl) is The Bride to be to Be or the Betrothed (catalogue no. 47), which must have been created during Lytras’ second visit to Munich. The information at the back of the painting, written in German by the owner and dated August 19, 1877, states “I personally bought this painting from the artist N. Lytras for 300 DM and after my death, I bequeath it to my daughter Effi.” This suggests that the painting was created in Munich and sold by the artist himself to the German owner, Idar Moser, who signed the note.

The same composition, with some differences, was exhibited in the Panhellenic exhibition at Zappeion in 1888 and was published in the monograph of Lytras by Xenophon Sochos (catalogue no. 109). This indicates that the artwork was a repetition of the first conception, which had been sold many years earlier (catalogue no. 48).

The work shows a young woman in a white dress, sitting in profile on a chair in a sparsely decorated rustic room. As she stays up late to prepare her dowries, she has momentarily fallen asleep, with her arms folded and her head bowed slightly. She is portrayed as a simple, beautiful and hardworking woman, a typical Greek daughter of the countryside. The scene exudes absolute peace and tranquillity, and this is contributed not only by the austerity of the space but also by the cohesion of colors, with the amazing white and minimal red in the clothes and the humble flowers in the vase.

Also, here it should be emphasized that Lytras begins with a series of works to establish compositions according to the standards of French and German painting, with one or two faces, in order to highlight characteristic forms of Greek life. As an image, The Bride to Be is directly linked to the work of Ludwig Knaus, which depicts a woman sitting in a chair with half-closed eyes caressing her cat (1856) and this in turn to Gustav Courbet’s wife, who has the same pose falling asleep, while spinning wool with her spindle (1853).
Nelly Misirli
LYTRAS, National Bank of Greece, 2009 Athens

Translated Extracts from letters confirming authentication by Dr Nelly Misirli from the Personal Archive of Iacovos Georgiades
Athens, 6/3/2002

Dear Mr Georgiades,

…I am currently studying the work of Nikiforos Lytras and the Director Marina Lambraki-Plaka has given me a photograph of your work by Lytras The Bride to Be.

I am writing to ask firstly for permission to publish your very important painting and secondly if I could please have a slide of the work (taken by a professional photographer), which is imperative for high quality reproduction….

Athens, 8/4/2002

Dear Mr Georgiades,

Yesterday I received the two slides that you were kind enough to send to me and I am most grateful. The work is extremely beautiful, you must be happy to have it.

I find it very significant that 1877 is the original date of the purchase from Lytras himself. Nevertheless this raises questions that I will investigate as much as possible. The work was exhibited for the first time in 1888 in Greece at the exhibition of the Olympion. In a book about Lytra published in 1929, that work is illustrated, and it is a different version from your work. The girl in that version wears a wedding ring, but in yours she doesn’t and there are differences in the decor. In the retrospective exhibition of Lytras that was held after his death a version of The Bride to Be appears with a note stating it belonged to Stephanos Ralli.

In my opinion your work was executed in Munich between 1874-1875 whilst he was there. 1877 is the date the lady wrote a note and bequeathed the work to her daughter. Lytras worked in Munich and produced work in a two year period whilst he was there. We know this from a letter Gyzis wrote to his parents, where he says that Lytras worked during the day like crazy and in the evenings read Ploutarchos. I believe Lytras returned to Greece with a photograph of the work he did in Munich, and painted a new version of the work with small changes and sold it to the Ralli family. That would explain how the work appeared in Greece in 1888.

This is all very important for me, and I imagine for you as well, having discovered that you have the original version, that until now was unknown….

Dr Nelly Misirli
Director of Collections and Programming
The National Gallery, Greece

Evaluation of Nikiforos Lytras’ Painting Using Scientific Diagnostic Methods

Scientific microscopic observation, along with images derived from IR, IRT, and IRFC photography, help reveal significant elements that are not visible in a painting.

Through the above scientific diagnostic methods, one of the two important paintings (74 x 58 cm) titled “THE BRIDE TO BE” or “THE ARAVONIASMENI” by Nikiforos Lytras has passed.

Initially, from these tests, it is established that the painting is in very good condition.

The UV tests showed that the painting had some minor damages and that is why, some decades ago, it had undergone maintenance by relining the canvas and minor retouching operations.

As far as the depicted person is concerned, and in particular the hand, no engagement ring was visible on the finger where this ring is usually found. At this specific point, the small damage did not extend to the whole finger but to a part of it. Unfortunately, during the color restoration operations, the conservator had completely covered the ring and a large part of the engagement, which had not suffered damage. So for decades now this very important work has been known to us with the finger of ENGAGED without engagement ring. The infrared photography at this point revealed that under the conservator’s retouches, a large part of the engagement ring is preserved as originally placed on the finger by the painter Nikiforos Lytras.

Also, the infrared photography around the ENGAGED’S head revealed an important piece of information regarding the painting of the head in which it appears that the painter, after finishing the head, then decides that it should have been smaller and therefore proceeds with this change. The infrared photo also reveals this change which is not visible to the naked eye since the painter had covered it with colors from the wall of the room.

It is also difficult to identify the painter’s signature with the naked eye. The erased inscription of the painter is completely below in the right corner in black color among older retouchings that covered micro-damages at this point, with the result that some of the letters due to the damages are absent and others due to the overlaps are not easy to read. The letters Λ and Y are shown very faintly and punctuated by damage, and to a somewhat better level the following letters TRAS.

The letter N. as the painter used to put in front is completely absent due to more deep damage at this point

KostasGerasimou
BA in restoration of works of art, antiquities and museology.

The full “Scientific Analysis Report“ can be supplied on request.

Nikiforos Lytras 1832-1904

Nikiforos Lytras was one of the leading representatives of the School of Munich and is considered to be the father of modern Greek painting. Though he was acquainted with impressionism, he remained faithful to the academic tradition and was involved with nearly all forms of subject matter: portraits, still lives, historical scenes, and mythological themes. But the most important part of his work consisted of genre scenes, which he, in essence, introduced to Greek painting and which contain scenes from the Greek provinces and the urban area, the Greek family and the world of the child, as well as other subjects from the further East. He is also considered to have been an innovator in the sector of portraiture, where his endeavour to penetrate the psychology of the figure being depicted can be readily seen. His teaching contribution was also of great importance, decisively influencing the following generations through his nearly forty years at the Athens School of Fine Arts during which he undertook large-scale endeavours for the upgrading of the lessonsandthereorganizationof theartdepartment.