The Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

In this painting by Osbert Lancaster, a dusky blue Mount Athos rises above the domes and towers of the buildings in the foreground, which cluster together like parts of a stage set. Mount Athos, the "Holy Mountain" on the Halkidiki peninsula of northern Greece, is the site of several monasteries. The Vatopedi monastery is the largest of these, and is shown here with its deep red walls and grey roofs. Osbert Lancaster worked as press attaché at the British Embassy in Athens from 1944 to 1946 and travelled around Greece after the end of the Second World War.

Places

Greece, Mount Athos

Subjects

topography, tree, donkey, mountain, man, clergyman, field, house, monastery, tiled roof, window, chimney, tower

Materials & Techniques

paper (as artists material), watercolour (as artists materials), watercolour (as object name)

Artist

Sir Osbert Lancaster (1908 - 1986)

Title

The Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece

Date

c.1944-1946

Medium

Watercolour on paper

Dimensions

height: 29.00 cm, width: 40.40 cm

Acquisition

Presented by Anne Scott-James, Lady Lancaster, February 1999

Inscription

none visible

Provenance

The artist's widow

GAC number

17379