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See also:GRECO, EL , the name commonly given to Dominico Theotocopuli (d. 1614), Cretan painter, architect and sculptor. He was See also:born in See also:Crete, between 1545 and 1550, and announces his Cretan origin by his See also:signature in See also:Greek letters on his most important pictures, especially on the " St See also:Maurice " in the See also:Escorial. He appears to have studied See also:art first of all in See also:Venice, and on arriving in See also:Rome in 1570 is described as having been a See also:pupil of See also:Titian, in a See also:letter written by the miniaturist, Giulio See also:Clovio, addressed to See also:Cardinal Alessandro Farnesi, dated the 15th of See also:November 1570.
Although a student under Titian, he was at no See also:time an exponent of his See also:master's spirit, and his See also:early See also:historical pictures were attributed to many other artists, but never to Titian. Of his early See also:works, two pictures of " The Healing of the See also:Blind See also:Man " at See also:Dresden and See also:Palma, and the four of " See also:Christ See also:driving the See also:money-changers out of the See also:Temple " in the Yarborough collection, the See also:Cork collection, the See also:National See also:Gallery, and the Beruete collection at See also:Madrid, are the See also:chief. His first See also:authentic portrait is that of his See also:fellow-countryman, Giulio Clovio. It was painted between 5570 and 1578, is signed in Greek characters, and preserved at See also:Naples, and the last portrait he painted under the See also:influence of the See also:Italian school appears to be that of a cardinal now in the National Gallery, of which four replicas painted in See also:Spain are known. He appears to have come to Spain in 1577, but, on being questioned two years later in connexion with a judicial suit, as to when he arrived in the See also:country, and for what purpose he came, declined to give any See also:information. He was probably attracted by the prospect of participating in the decoration of the Escorial, and he appears to have settled down in See also:Toledo, where his first works were the paintings for the high See also:altar of Santo Domingo, and his famous picture of " The Disrobing of Christ " in the See also:sacristy of the See also:cathedral. It was in 'connexion with this last-named See also:work that he proved refractory, and the records of a See also:law-suit respecting the See also:price to be paid to him give us the earliest information of the artist's sojourn in Spain. In 1590, he painted the " See also:History of St Maurice " for See also: It is a strangely
individual work, representing See also:Spanish See also:character even more truthfully than did any Spanish artist, and it gathers up all the fugitive moods, the See also:grace and See also:charm, the devices and defects of a single See also:race, and gives them See also:complete stability in their wavering expressions.
Between 1595 and 'boo, El Greco executed two See also:groups of paintings in the See also: See also:Sargent, claims to have learnt more than from that of any other artist. It immortalizes the character of the See also:people amongst whom he dwelt, and he may be considered as the initiator of truth and See also:realism in art, a precursor and inspirer of Velazquez.
In his own time he was exceedingly popular, and held in See also:great repute. Sonnets were written in his See also:honour, and he is himself said to have written several See also:treatises, but these have not come down to our time. For more than a See also:generation his work was hardly known, but it is now gaining rapidly in importance, and its true position is more and more recognized. Some examples of the artist's own See also:handwriting have been discovered in Toledo, and Senor See also:Don See also:Manuel Cossia of Madrid has spent many years See also:collecting information for a work dealing with the artist. (G. C. W.)
GRECO-See also:TURKISH See also:WAR, 1897. This war between See also:Greece and See also:Turkey (see GREECE: Modern History) involved two practically distinct See also:campaigns, in See also:Thessaly and in See also:Epirus. Upon the Thessalian frontier the See also:Turks, early in See also: The Greeks numbered about 45,000 See also:infantry, 800 See also:cavalry and 96 guns, under the See also:crown See also:prince. On both sides there was a considerable See also:dispersion of forces along the frontier. The Turkish See also:navy, an important See also:factor in the war of 1877-78, had become paralytic ten years later, and the Greek See also:squadron held complete command of the See also:sea. Expeditionary forces directed against the Turkish See also:line of communications might have influenced the course of the See also:campaign; but for such work the Greeks were quite unprepared, and beyond bombarding one or two insignificant ports on the See also:coast-line, and aiding the transport of troops from See also:Athens to See also:Volo, the navy practically accomplished nothing. On the 9th and loth April Greek irregulars crossed the frontier, either with a view to provoke hostilities or in the See also:hope of fomenting a rising in See also:Macedonia. On the 16th and 17th some fighting occurred, in which Greek regulars took part; and on the 18th Edhem Pasha, whose headquarters had for some time been established at Elassona, ordered a See also:general advance. The Turkish See also:plan was to turn the Greek See also:left and to bring on a decisive See also:action, but this was not carried out. In the centre the Turks occupied the Meluna Pass on the 19th, and the way was practically open to See also:Larissa. The Turkish right wing, however, moving on Damani and the Reveni Pass, encountered resistance, and the left wing was temporarily checked by the Greeks among the mountains near Nezeros. At Mati, covering the road to Tyrnavo, the Greeks entrenched themselves. Here See also:sharp fighting occurred on the 21st and 22nd, during which the Greeks sought to turn the right flank of the See also:superior Turkish central See also:column. On the 23rd fighting was renewed, and the advance guard of the Turkish left column, which had been reinforced, and had pressed back the Greeks, reached Deliler. The Turkish forces had now See also:drawn together, and the Greeks were threatened on both flanks. In the evening a general See also:retreat was ordered, and the loose discipline of the Greek See also:army was at once manifested. Rumours of disaster spread among the ranks, and See also:wild panic supervened. There was nothing to prevent an orderly retirement upon Larissa, which had been fortified and provisioned, and which offered a See also:good defensive position. The general debacle could not, however, be arrested, and in great disorder the See also:mass of the Greek army fled southwards to Pharsala. There was no pursuit, and the Turkish See also:commander-in-chief did not reach Larissa till the 27th. Thus ended the first phase of the war, in which the Greeks showed tenacity in See also:defence, which proved fruitless by See also:reason of initially See also:bad strategic dispositions entailing far too great dispersion, and also because there was no plan of action beyond a general See also:desire to avoid risking a defeat which might prevent the expected risings in Macedonia and elsewhere. The handling of the Turkish army showed little skill or enterprise; but on both sides See also:political considerations tended to prevent the application of See also:sound military principles. Larissa being abandoned by the Greeks, Velestino, the junction of the Thessalian See also:railways, where there was a strong position covering Volo, seemed to be the natural rallying point for the Greek army. Here the support of the See also:fleet would have been secured, and a Turkish advance across the Othrys range upon Athens could not have taken See also:place until the flanking position had been captured. Whether by direction or by natural impulse, however, the mass of the Greek troops made for Pharsala, where some See also:order was re-established, and preparations were made to resist attack. The importance of Velestino was recognized by sending a See also:brigade thither by railway from Pharsala, and the inferior Greek army was thus split into two portions, separated by nearly 40 M. On 27th April a Turkish See also:reconnaissance on Velestino was repulsed, and further fighting occurred on the 29th and 3oth, in which the Greeks under See also:Colonel Smolenski held their own. Meanwhile the Turks made preparations to attack Pharsala, and on 5th May the Greeks were driven from their positions in front of the See also:town by three divisions. Further fighting followed on the 6th, and in the evening the Greek army retired in See also:fair order upon Domokos. It was intended to turn the Greek left with the first division under Hairi Pasha, but the flanking force did not arrive in time to bring about a decisive result. The See also:abandonment of Pharsala involved that of Velestino, where the Turks had obtained no See also:advantage, and on the evening of the 5th Colonel Smolenski began a retirement upon Halmyros. Again delaying, Edhem Pasha did not attack Domokos till the 17th, giving the Greeks time to entrench their positions. The attack was delivered in three columns, of which the right was checked and the centre failed to take the Greek trenches and suffered much loss. The left column, however, menaced the line of retreat, and the Greek army abandoned the whole position during the See also:night. No effective stand was made at the Furka Pass, which was evacuated on the following night. Colonel Smolenski, who arrived on the 18th from Halmyros, was directed to hold the pass of See also:Thermopylae. The Greek forces being much demoralized, the intervention of the See also:tsar was invoked by See also:telegraph; and the latter sent a See also:personal appeal to the See also:Sultan, who directed a suspension of hostilities. On the loth an See also:armistice was arranged. In Epirus at the outbreak of war about 15,000 Greeks, including a cavalry See also:regiment and five batteries, the whole under Colonel Manos, occupied a line of defence from See also:Arta to Peta. The Turks, about 28,000 strong, with See also:forty-eight guns, under Achmet Hifsi Pasha, were distributed mainly at See also:Iannina, Pentepagadia, and in front of Arta. On 18th April the Turks commenced a three days' See also:bombardment of Arta; but successive attempts to take the See also:bridge were repulsed, and during the night of the 21st they retired on Philippiada, 26 m. distant, which was attacked and occupied by Colonel Manos on the 23rd. The Greeks then advanced to Pentepagadia, See also:meeting with little resistance. Their difficulties now began. After some skirmishing on the 27th, the position held by their advanced force near Homopulos was attacked on the 28th. The attack was renewed on the 29th, and no Greek reinforcements were forthcoming when needed. The Euzones made a good defence, but were driven back by superior force, and a retreat was ordered, which quickly degenerated into panic-stricken See also:flight to and across the Arta. Reinforcements, including 2500 Epirote See also:volunteers, were sent to Arta from Athens, and on 12th May another incursion into Turkish territory began, the apparent See also:object being to occupy a portion of the country in view of the breakdown in Thessaly and the See also:probability that hostilities would shortly end. The advance was made in three columns, while the Epirote volunteers were landed near the mouth of the Luro See also:river with the See also:idea of cutting off the Turkish See also:garrison of Prevesa. The centre column, consisting of a brigade, three squadrons and two batteries, which were intended to take up and hold a defensive position, attacked the Turks near Strevina on the 13th. The Greeks fought well, and being reinforced by a See also:battalion from the left column, resumed the offensive on the following See also:day, and fairly held their own. On the night of the 15th a retreat was ordered and well carried out. The volunteers landed at the mouth of the Luro, were attacked and routed with heavy loss.
The campaign in Epirus thus failed as completely as that in Thessaly. Under the terms of the treaty of See also:peace, signed on loth See also:September, and arranged by the See also:European See also:powers, Turkey obtained an See also:indemnity of T4,000,000, and a rectification of the Thessalian frontier, carrying with it some strategic advantage. History records few more unjustifiable See also:wars than that which Greece gratuitously provoked. The Greek troops on several occasions showed tenacity and endurance, but discipline and cohesion were manifestly wanting. Many of the See also:officers were incapable; the campaign was gravely mismanaged ; and politics, which led to the war, impeded its operations. On the other See also:hand, the fruits of the See also:German tuition, which began in 1880, and received a powerful stimulus by the See also:appointment of General von der See also:Goltz in 1883, were shown in the Turkish army. The mobilization was on the whole smoothly carried out, and the newly completed railways greatly facilitated the concentration on the frontier. The See also:young school of officers trained by General von der Goltz displayed ability, and the See also:artillery at Pharsala and Domokos was well handled. The superior leading was, however, not conspicuously successful; and while the See also:rank and See also:file again showed excellent military qualities, political conditions and the See also:Oriental predilection for See also:half-See also:measures and for denying full responsibility and full powers to commanders in the See also: (G. S. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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