Clouds

The Gallery's record for this small canvas, 40 by 48 centimetres, carries no date at all. That leaves it inside a short working life. Markos Zavitzianos was born in 1884, studied painting at the Munich Academy from 1906, was back in Corfu from 1911, and died at 39. His standing in Greek art rests on copperplate engraving, most of it cut for books, and oils like this one are the quieter half of the work. Even the title is unsettled. The Gallery catalogues it as Clouds, while other records give it simply as Landscape. The painting has hung in the Gallery's Corfu annex at Kato Korakiana, two restored villas in the countryside north of Corfu town that opened to visitors in 1993.