Michael Soutzos.

Dupré, Louis. Dupré, Louis. Prince of Moldavia, Michael Soutzo. "Le Prince de Moldavie. Michael Soutzo" Paris "Imprimerie de Dondey-Dupré, Rue St Louis, No 46, Au Marais." 1825-37
Coloured lithograph of Michael Soutzos from Louis Dupré's " Voyage â Athènes et â Constantinople...". Original hand colour; verso blank; blind stamp of Dupré as issued.
The image shows an the Soutzos richly dressed seated on a divan his feet upon a leopard skin, with countryside seen through the window behind him.

Dupré spent three months in Constantinople in 1819, and visited Soutzos at his country estate outside the city they would renew the friendship when Soutzos was in exile, it is probable that Soutzos sat for Dupré at that time as the portrait is one of the later lithographs published.


Michael Soutzos, grandson of Michael Drakos Soutsos, who was ruler of Wallachia,and nephew of Mihai Sutu prince of Moldavia a position he would hold between 1819 & 1821. The Family were Phanariotes, , a group of wealthy Greek families who lived in Phanar the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated, who came to traditionally occupy four positions of major importance in the Ottoman Empire: Grand Dragoman, Grand Dragoman of the Fleet, Hospodar of Moldavia, and Hospodar of Wallachia.

Brought up in his grandfather's house hold he served as secretary of the Grand Interpreter of the Sublime Porte, Ioannis Karatzas, whose daughter, Roxanne, he married in 1812. In the same year, thanks to his knowledge of languages and the favor of his father in law, he was appointed to the position of the Grand Interpreter.
In 1819 he was placed by the Sultan as ruler of Moldavia, position he held until 1821. He also had a position in the council of Sultan Mahmud II. At the same time however he supported the rebellion of Ali Pasha in Epirus. in 1820 and in November of that year he was initiated into the Filiki Eteria by Iakovos Rizos Neroulos.

In January 1821, he collaborated with Alexander Ypsilantis, leader of the Filiki Eteria and on the 22 February Ypsilantis led the invasion of Moldavia whilst Soutzos raised the guard in command of the rebels and paid substantial amounts of money for the needs of the army. Sadly Russian support for the revolt did not come and the Boyars overthrew Soutzos, making him abdicate; for he Boyars the unpopular Greek Phanariote princes appointed over them by the Ottomans, were considered part of their oppression.
Soutzos moved to Skouleni and then to Chisinău in the Russian Empire. Both he and Ypsilantis were excommunicated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople during this time

Thereafter, he tried to escape to Switzerland through Austrian Empire but there he was arrested and was imprisoned for almost four years. After his release, he fled first to Italy and then to Switzerland. There, he was hosted in Geneva by the Swiss Philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard. During his stay in Europe, he arranged for the collection and distribution of money in favor of the Greek War of Independence and he was in contact with the "Committee of Zakynthos" of Dionysios Romas. Before Ioannis Kapodistrias, was elected head of the new Greek state, Soutsos was one of the possible candidates to occupy this position.

Under Kapodistrias he was appointed as representative of Greece to France, following the recommendation of the Eynard. Later, he was appointed by Otto of Greece as Greek ambassador in France, the Russian Empire, Sweden and Denmark. In 1839 he moved permanently to Athens and he served until 1840 as Member of the Council of the State. Removed from a frame; light even toning; colours slightly faded; some spotting to margins; tear to lower left corner (85mm) not entering plate and repaired to verso with archival tape.

Louis Dupré [1789-1837].

A pupil of Jacques-Louis David in Paris, Louis Dupré became resident in Rome and was appointed official painter to the prince Jerome Bonaparte, in 1811.

In 1819, Louis Dupré took a six-month tour of Greece and Turkey, accompanied by three affluent English gentlemen, Messrs Hyett, Vivian, and Hay. He was received by the French consul Fauvel in Athens and introduced into Greek society allowing him to make his paintings of important personalities of the time, both in Athens and in Joannina where he portayed Ali Pascha, his family and attendants. He continued to Thessaly and from there he sailed to Constantinople, where he made the acquaintance of Prince Michael Soutzo of Moldavia with whom he returned to Italy via Romania.
Upon arriving in Constantinople his companions left quickly, frightened by an outbreak of the plague. Dupré, however, remained and completed a series of watercolors. Nevertheless, the Englishmen funded Dupré's entire trip in exchange for these drawings, of which the artist also made duplicates that he exhibited at the Salon of 1824.
His work " Voyage â Athènes et â Constantinople"was published in 10 livraisons, in Paris in 1825 through to 1837, consisting of 40 lithographs: portraits, costumes and views of Athenian antiquities, based upon these drawings.
[Colnaghi of London pirated 2 of the portraits of Ali Pascha and published them before Dupré.]

The work became synonymous with the Greek War of Independence. The image of Mitropolos, holding the Greek standard symbolizes the Greek victory.

Louis Dupré's" Voyage à Athènes et à Constantinople "is a fascinating example of a travel book so contradictory it begs to be read against the grain. Taking the form of a costume album, it is based on notes and drawings made during the artist's voyage in the Ottoman Empire in 1819. However, the book was produced in France from 1825 to 1839, after the outbreak of Greek insurrections against Ottoman rule in 1821, a popular cause in France. This contextual gap between the moment of travel and the moment of production accounts for the work's contradictory aspects. It is overtly philhellenic, taking the side of the Greek rebels in their conflict with the Ottomans, seeing in the insurgence a revival of ancient ideals and culture. Yet key aspects of the work, particularly its costume images, tug against and undermine its underlying turcophobia and, ultimately, its nationalist, essentialist message of Hellenic regeneration. Dupré's colorful plates are striking and even hauntingly memorable, arresting the viewer's attention. His close-up depiction of boldly posed figures introduces an ambiguity into his travel account that belies its ideological frame. In particular, the costume images, resembling Ottoman-produced costume albums, implicitly celebrate a notion of empire-as-diversity that contradicts Dupré's nationalist text.
[Elizabeth Fraser, Ottoman Costume and Inclusive Empire: Louis Dupré in Ottoman Greece .Fashioning Identities symposium, Hunter College, NYC, October 2013]
Colas 916; Lipperheide 1434; Droulia 901; Navari/ Blackmer: 517; Sotheby's/Blackmer 559 407 by 318mm (16 by 12½ inches) image without title; page; 520x414mm.   ref: 2863  €3000