Special Information for the Artist
Florence and Naples Italy, 1852 - Spetses, May 1878
His father was the Italian painter and rebel, Francesco Saverio Altamura and his mother the first Greek female painter, Helen Boukoura-Altamura. His innate inclination towards painting was evident from his childhood. He was accepted at the School of Arts (later the "School of Fine Arts" of Athens) where he studied painting for two years under Nikiforos Lytras (1871-1872). Using a scholarship from of King George I of Greece, he continued his studies in Copenhagen 1873-1876 under Carl Frederick Sorensen. In 1875, while was still in Copenhagen, he sent his work “The port of Copenhagen” to the Olympia exhibition in Athens was awarded with the silver medal. Upon his return to Greece, he established a painting workshop in Athens, and his reputation began to grow. Unfortunately, he contracted tuberculosis and died in 1878, at the young age of 26. His death and the death of his sister that had happened a few years ago - also from tuberculosis - led his mother to a nervous breakdown and madness.
