Mavi Boncuk |
![]()
Kanaris[1] a Scio, Piersanti Mattarella Park, Palermo (1878)
![]()
![]()
.png)
Kanaris[1] a Scio, Piersanti Mattarella Park, Palermo (1878)
Benedetto Civiletti (1 October 1845 – 22 September 1899) was an Italian sculptor, active mainly in his native Sicily. He is known for his Romantic-style public sculptures on allegorical, genre, or historical themes.
Influenced by the stories of the Greek struggles for freedom in both the past and present, written by Angelo Brofferio in his Scene Elleniche antica e nuova Grecia, Civiletti created Kanaris a Scio, known in Palermo as Fratelli Kanaris or I marinai del Giardino Inglese. This large marble sculpture shows two mustachioed and earnest men, one of them the Greek freedom fighter Konstantinos Kanaris, guiding a fire ship with explosives towards the Ottoman fleet. Purchased by Prince Umberto di Savoia during its exhibition in Palermo, the sculpture was subsequently widely exhibited in Vienna, then Paris where it won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1878.
The Greek War of Independence stirred Romantic artists in Post-Napoleonic Europe, including Eugène Delacroix in his painting The Massacre at Chios (1824), musician Gioachino Rossini in his opera Le siège de Corinthe (1826) and many writers, such as Victor Hugo, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron (who died in Greece during the war). Civiletti was apparently inspired by the recently published Scene Elleniche antica e nuova Grecia, written by Angelo Brofferio, which included a description of the burning of the Ottoman flagship off Chios. For Civiletti, the topic may have resonated with the nationalistic fervor in Italy after its unification; in retrospect however, the individualistic firebrands could also be viewed as anarchist patriots.
The work was first made in a stucco and exhibited in Palermo in 1875, where it was purchased by Prince Umberto di Savoia, who requisitioned a marble copy which he donated to the Comune of Palermo. In 1878, the sculpture was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of Paris. Initially placed in the gardens of Villa Giulia in Palermo, it was later moved to its current location, where it is displayed, albeit in a vandalized state, in a small Neo-Moorish pavilion in the Giardino Inglese public park.
The work was first made in a stucco and exhibited in Palermo in 1875, where it was purchased by Prince Umberto di Savoia, who requisitioned a marble copy which he donated to the Comune of Palermo. In 1878, the sculpture was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of Paris. Initially placed in the gardens of Villa Giulia in Palermo, it was later moved to its current location, where it is displayed, albeit in a vandalized state, in a small Neo-Moorish pavilion in the Giardino Inglese public park.
The Piersanti Mattarella Park (Italian: Parco Piersanti Mattarella), formerly the English Garden (Giardino Inglese), is a public park in Palermo designed in 1851 by the architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile. To make the atmosphere even more suggestive and more exotic, according to the taste of the period, plants from all over the world were added, chosen in collaboration with botanist Vincenzo Tineo, who was at the time the Director of the Botanical Garden of Palermo.
_-_n._2488_-_Palermo,_Giardino_inglese_-_da_-__Sicilia_mitica_arcadia_,_p._114.jpg)
[1] Konstantinos Kanaris (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κανάρης, Konstantínos Kanáris; (c. 1790 1877), also anglicised as Constantine Kanaris or Canaris, was a Greek admiral, Prime Minister, and a hero of the Greek War of Independence.
Kanaris gained his fame during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829). Unlike most other prominent figures of the War, he had never been initiated into the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends), which played a significant role in the uprising against the Ottoman Empire, primarily by secret recruitment of supporters against the Turkish rule.
By early 1821, the movement had gained enough support to launch a revolution. This seems to have inspired Kanaris, who was in Odessa at the time. He returned to the island of Psara in haste and was present when it joined the uprising on 10 April 1821.
The island formed its own fleet and the famed seamen of Psara, already known for their well-equipped ships and successful battles against sea pirates, proved to be highly effective in naval warfare. Kanaris soon distinguished himself as a fire ship captain.
![]()
(Pictured) The burning of the Turkish flagship by Kanaris. Painting by Nikiforos Lytras, 1873.
At Chios, on the moonless night of 6–7 June 1822, forces under his command destroyed the flagship of Nasuhzade Ali Pasha, Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) of the Ottoman fleet, in revenge for the Chios massacre. The admiral was holding a Bayram celebration, allowing Kanaris and his men to position their fire ship without being noticed. When the flagship's powder store caught fire, all men aboard were instantly killed. The Turkish casualties comprised 2,300 men, both naval officers and common sailors, as well as Nasuhzade Ali Pasha himself.
Kanaris led another successful attack against the Ottoman fleet at Tenedos in November 1822. He was famously said to have encouraged himself by murmuring "Konstantí, you are going to die" every time he was approaching a Turkish warship on the fire boat he was about to detonate.
By early 1821, the movement had gained enough support to launch a revolution. This seems to have inspired Kanaris, who was in Odessa at the time. He returned to the island of Psara in haste and was present when it joined the uprising on 10 April 1821.
The island formed its own fleet and the famed seamen of Psara, already known for their well-equipped ships and successful battles against sea pirates, proved to be highly effective in naval warfare. Kanaris soon distinguished himself as a fire ship captain.
(Pictured) The burning of the Turkish flagship by Kanaris. Painting by Nikiforos Lytras, 1873.
At Chios, on the moonless night of 6–7 June 1822, forces under his command destroyed the flagship of Nasuhzade Ali Pasha, Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) of the Ottoman fleet, in revenge for the Chios massacre. The admiral was holding a Bayram celebration, allowing Kanaris and his men to position their fire ship without being noticed. When the flagship's powder store caught fire, all men aboard were instantly killed. The Turkish casualties comprised 2,300 men, both naval officers and common sailors, as well as Nasuhzade Ali Pasha himself.
Kanaris led another successful attack against the Ottoman fleet at Tenedos in November 1822. He was famously said to have encouraged himself by murmuring "Konstantí, you are going to die" every time he was approaching a Turkish warship on the fire boat he was about to detonate.