Lytras Chatziantonis (c. 1800 - 2nd half 19th century)
Windmill, 1837
Marble, 49 x 62 cm
Father of the painter Nikephoros Lytras, Chatziantonis Lytras was a folk marble-cutter.
In the relief depiction shown here, a scene from the everyday life of the Greek countryside is illustrated. The windmill occupies nearly the entire center of the depiction and is framed by a schematically rendered palm tree and a young island woman, who is drawing near the stairs, laden with a sack of wheat. The folk elements are expressed through a flat perspectiveless rendering, a lack of proportions, and the rendering of the young woman, her face shown in three-quarters profile while the rest of her body is in full profile, just as one finds in folk painting. A cross placed high up, in the center of the marble frame, symbolizes divine assistance.
The work, direct, simple and spontaneous, constitutes a characteristic example of folk technique in marble-carving, done just before the appearance of official sculpture in the New Greek state.
