#  The Peloponnese and modern European culture, event at the Association of Argives "O DANAOS" 

 



##  About the event 

 



 Key information Short biographical note of Thodoris Koutsogiannis 

## Key information

- **Topic:** From Utopian Arcadia to Revolutionary Moria: Aspects of the Peloponnese in Modern European Culture
- **Date:** Saturday, November 2, 2024, 6:30 pm
- **Location:** Association of Argives "O DANAOS" Mansion, Argos, Greece
- **Organized by:** Association of Argives "O DANAOS," CHS Greece
- **Open to:** All
- **Language:** Greek
- **Speaker:** Thodoris Koutsogiannis (Art Historian, Chief Curator of the Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, and Harvard CHS Fellow in Philhellenism 2023-24)
- **Activity Administration:** Association of Argives "O Danaos" Administrative Board, [Evan Katsarelis](https://prod-chsgreece.drupalsites.harvard.edu/staff/evangelos-katsarelis) (CHS Greece)

### Overview

The Association of Argives "O DANAOS" and CHS Greece co-organize an event on the topic "From Utopian Arcadia to Revolutionary Moria: Aspects of the Peloponnese in Modern European Culture." The speaker will be Mr. Thodoris Koutsogiannis, Art Historian, Hellenic Parliament Art Collection Curator, and Harvard CHS Fellow in Philhellenism 2023-24.

The Peloponnese, as a distinct geographical region of Greece, is historically charged with a unique monumental cultural heritage, documented in literature and inscribed in material remnants. It has been depicted in various ways in the modern visual culture of Europe.

The painters of early modernity portray the utopian Arcadia with the idyllic life of shepherds; the cartographers, especially of the Venetian school, map the Peloponnese; and the illustrators capture the castles of Methoni, Koroni, and Nafplio in vedute marine. Travelers follow in the footsteps of Pausanias, seeking antiquities, especially in Argos, Mycenae, Olympia, and the Bassae of Phigaleia. The scientists of the French Expedition in 1828 document places and monuments throughout the revolutionary Morea. Philhellenic artists visualize the pivotal battles of the Greek War of Independence, particularly at Dervenakia, Tripolitsa, Maniaki, and Navarino.

All these varied images of the Peloponnese by Europeans, from the Renaissance of the 15th century to the Romanticism of the 19th century, form an exceptionally fascinating kaleidoscope of the Greek world during the period of foreign rule, which is both highly attractive and simultaneously revealing about the "image" (with and without quotation marks) of Greece in the West.

   ![poster_event_o_danaos.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum7151/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/chsgreece/files/poster_event_o_danaos.jpg?itok=hpjZ0ZsP) 

 

 

 

 

## Short biographical note of Thodoris Koutsogiannis

Theodoros (Thodoris) Koutsogiannis has studied archaeology and art history at the University of Athens (bachelor 1996; master 2000, PhD 2008). Additionally, he attended seminars and conducted research in various universities and institutes abroad (La Sapienza, Rome 1998 and 2000; Warburg Institute, London 2001-02; Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa 2003; Istituto di Studi Umanistici, Florence 2005-08; Princeton University 2011). He has taught modern art history as visiting professor (Athens University, 2009, 2011, 2018; University of Thessaly, Volos, 2010; Hellenic Open University, 2009-14; University of Patras, 2019-20). He has curated exhibitions and their catalogs in Athens (*Hellas: Genius Loci*, 2014; *“A dream among splendid ruins…”*, 2015-2016; Minor Odysseys, 2017; *“These are what we fought for...”*: 2020; *Beholding Liberty!*, 2021). He has presented many papers at international conferences and published various essays in collective volumes. He is working on modern European art from the early Renaissance to the late Neoclassicism, especially concerning the artistic reception of Antiquity and Greek aspects of the modern visual culture. In the academic year 2023-24, he was a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University in the field of Philhellenism.