01 Work, The art of War, Fausto Zonaro's Battle of Domokos, with Footnotes

Fausto Zonaro  (1854–1929)  wikidata:Q1398809

Battle of Domokos (1897) in Greco-Turkish War of 1897

Oil on canvas

Dolmabahçe Palace

The Battle of Domokos took place between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Greece. This battle was a part of the Greco-Turkish War (1897).

After Greece tried to annex the island Crete the Ottoman porte declared war on Greece. The commander of the Ottoman army at Elassona was Edhem Pasha. He was one of the younger generals of the Ottoman Army and his appointment perplexed many. The commander of the Greek army was the Prince Constantine. The Ottoman army in Domokos was 45,000 strong and the Greek army was 40,000 strong. The Greek side also had 2000 Italian irregulars under the command of Ricciotti Garibaldi. More on The Battle of Domokos

Realist painter Fausto Zonaro was born on this day in 1854. Originally from Masi, a municipality in the Province of Padua, then part of the Austrian Empire, Zonaro became Italian in 1866, when Italy won the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia in the Third Italian War of Independence. 

A born traveler, Zonaro is best known for his captivating and vivid pictures of life and history of the Ottoman Empire.Inspired by Edmondo de Amicis’ orientalist travel book Constantinopoli, Zonaro first traveled to Istanbul in 1891. There he worked hard to gain access to aristocratic circles, and in 1896 he was nominated as the court painter to the ruling sultan Abdul Hamid II. The Sultan commissioned Zonaro to paint a series depicting events in the life of the 15th century Ottoman sultan Mehmed II. Painting both historic scenes and contemporary life, Zonaro was inspired to render the Ashura Day processions – in order to commemorate the day on which Hussein Ibn Ali was martyred in the battle of Karbal – carried out by the Shia Muslims on the tenth day of Muharram at Tatbir. The Shia community not only mourned the martyr, but also showed respect and adoration by flagellating themselves with swords, symbol of war. The artist depicted this intense ritual with strong lighting and a dramatic composition. 

Zonaro remained in Istanbul until 1909, when he returned to Italy following the coup d’état that overthrew his patron abdulhamid II. He spent the last years of his life quietly, settled in Sanremo, painting the Italian Riviera. More on Fausto Zonaro

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