Georgios Jakobides (1853 - 1932)

Georgios Jakobides

Georgios Jakobides was a Greek painter, representative of the Munich School of Greek painting.

He studied at the Athens School of Art (later the Academy of Fine Arts), then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Jakobides painted mythological scenes, genre paintings and portraits influenced by German academic realism.

His many characteristic paintings of children established Jakobides' reputation as a children's artist. As a perceptive psychologist and keen observer of human nature, he was a consummate draftsman. His painting The Reading Girl (1882), first exhibited in Munich, was admired by critics and the public.

In 1990 Georgios Jakobides returned to his homeland and became the first director of the National Gallery of Greece. In 1904 he was appointed director of the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he taught for 25 years. In addition to these activities, the artist continued to paint portraits, including of prominent Greeks.