Gorge on Olympus
After his studies at the School of Fine Arts, which he continues in Antwerp, Ithakisios worked for many years (1901 - 1922) in Smyrna. At the time of the Asia Minor Disaster, he took refuge in Athens. A short while afterwards, he left the city to settle in a cave on Olympus. He lived there for 20 years, before returning to the Greek capital. A devotee of the Greek countryside, he gained his inspiration from it for a large number of pictures, which entitled him to be described as par excellence a landscape artist. In spite of the fact that the approach which governs his landscape compositions is influenced by the realistic-classicist spirit of his studies, he developed a landscape painting which is marked by the purity of the atmosphere, the strong colours, and the contrasts of light and shadow caused by the Mediterranean sun.
Among the numerous works which Ithakisios produced when he was living on Olympus are On the Peaks of Olympus and Gorge on Olympus, which show the intense bond he felt with nature. The great beauty of the mountain landscape, with the trees belaboured by the harsh climate, the cliffs and the rocks, is depicted in compositions which are marked by a realistic approach. Emphasis is given to accuracy of design, which demonstrates the immediacy of the observation, but without any lack of an emotional approach to nature, a certain romantic mood, denoted by soft lyrical colours.
