Mavi Boncuk |Portrait of Kyra Vassiliki, 1850 [1] kira/kyra (lady)
Kyra Vassiliki (Greek: Κυρά Βασιλική 1789 – 1834) was an influential Greek woman brought up in the seraglio of the Ottoman ruler Ali Pasha.
Kyra Vassiliki and Ali Pasha, school of Paul Emil Jacobs, 1844
Vassiliki Kontaxi was born in the Greek village of Plisivitsa in Thesprotia. At the age of twelve she sought an audience with the local Ottoman ruler, Ali Pasha, to intercede for her father's life. Having granted her father pardon, Ali Pasha married Vassiliki in 1808 and she joined his harem. Being allowed to practice her Christian faith, she interceded on behalf of Greeks.In 1818 she became a member of the Greek patriotic organization Filiki Eteria. Vassiliki was directly recruited by one of the three founding members of the organization, Nikolaos Skoufas. During this period she undertook a number of charity initiatives. In 1819–20 she financed a number of restoration works in Mount Athos.
In January 1822, during the last stage of the siege of Ioannina by the Ottoman Sultan's forces, Vassiliki together with Ali Pasha and his private guard escaped to the Ioannina Island. Ali Pasha was executed there on January 22 by an Ottoman delegation, having being declared an outlaw by the Sultan.Following Ali's death, Vassiliki was sent as a prisoner to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople. She was later pardoned and returned to Greece, which meanwhile gained its independence after the successful Greek War of Independence (1821–30). In 1830, the Greek state gave Vassiliki a medieval tower in Katochi, where she lived the rest of her life. She died of dysentery in 1834.
In 1895, the gold-embroidered velvet purse of Vassiliki was bought by Nikolaos Konstantinidis for 25 drachmas. Vassiliki was depicted by various artists. She is briefly mentioned in a number of 19th century novels such as in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo[8] and by English author Richard A. Davenport in his The Life of Ali Pasha of Tepeleni, Vizier of Epirus.
Ali Pasha, variously referred to as of Tepelena or of Janina/Yannina/Ioannina, Aslan, "the Lion", or the Lion of Yannina (1740 – 24 January 1822), was a Muslim Albanian ruler who served as an Ottoman pasha of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory, which was referred to as the Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina, but the territory he governed incorporated most of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece. Ali had three sons: Muhtar Pasha (served in the 1809 war against the Russians), Veli Pasha of Morea and Salih Pasha of Vlore. Ali first appears in historical accounts as the leader of a band of brigands who became involved in many confrontations with Ottoman state officials in Albania and Epirus. Pictured:
"Ali Pasha of Janina Hunting on Lake Butrinto" by Louis Dupré 1825. [2]
He joined the administrative-military apparatus of the Ottoman Empire, holding various posts until 1788 when he was appointed pasha, ruler of the sanjak of Ioannina. His diplomatic and administrative skills, his interest in modernist ideas and concepts, his popular religiousness, his religious neutrality, his win over the bands terrorizing the area, his revengefulness and harshness in imposing law and order, and his looting practices towards persons and communities in order to increase his proceeds cause both the admiration and the criticism of his contemporaries, as well as an ongoing controversy among historians regarding his personality. Ali Pasha of Tepelena died in 1822 at the age of 81 or 82.
[1] Sotheby's Auction Notes: Charcoal on paper (visible area 545 x 420mm.), heightened with white, signed and dated lower right, mounted, framed and glazed. A fine drawing of Kira Vassiliki, a Greek Christian who became the influential wife of Ali Pasha. Vassiliki was born in 1789 in the village of Plisivitsa near Filiates and at the age of 12 sought an audience with Ali Pasha (1740-1822) to intercede for her father's life. Ali Pasha granted her father pardon and later married Vassiliki in 1808 and she joined his harem of over 600 women. Vassiliki was Ali Pasha’s favourite and was allowed to practice her Christian faith and used her influence over him to save the lives of many Greeks. When Ali Pasha was accused of treason and executed in 1822, Vassiliki was sent as a prisoner to the Sultan in Constantinople; he spared her life and she returned to Greece, where she lived until her death in 1834.
[2] Dupré, Louis. Dupré, Louis. Ali. "Ali Tebelen, Pacha de Janina, dessiné d'aprés nature le 14 Mars sur le lac de Butrinto." Paris "Imprimerie de Dondey-Dupré, Rue St Louis, No 46, Au Marais." 1825-37 Coloured lithograph of Ali Pasha from Louis Dupré's " Voyage â Athènes et â Constantinople...". Original hand colour; verso blank; blind stamp of Dupré as issued. The famous image shows Ali seated in a boat, dressed in furs and smoking a chibouque. Ali despite his brutal history against the Suliotes is considered a hero of the Greek War of Independence; His rebellion against the Sublime Porte led in 1820, to an anti-Ottoman coalition, between Ali and the Suliotes, to which the Souliotes contributed 3,000 soldiers. Ali Pasha gained the support of the Souliotes mainly because he offered to allow the return of the Souliotes to their land, and partly by appeal to their perceived Albanian origin.
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.] MORE