Zichy: painter of Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli

Mihaly Zichy was famous for painting Georgia’s 16th century poet, Shota Rustaveli. The 1880s painting was called ‘Shota Rustaveli presents his poem to Queen Tamar’ (above).

Mihaly Zichy (1827-1906) is commemorated in Alexander’s Park in Tbilisi with a bronze statue near the National Gallery. Zichy, a Hungarian painter was born in Zala, and worked as an art teacher in St. Petersburg in Russia, where he lived until his death at the age of 78.

He lived in Paris in 1874 where he painted depictions of Queen Elisabeth and King Henry VIII. He left Paris in 1881 and traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia, to work on illustrations for Shota Rustaveli’s epic poem, The Knight in the Panther Skin. He painted 35 pictures, choosing 27 for publication. Instead of payment, he gifted the works to the people of Georgia.

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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