Footnotes
An eminent exponent of the Munich school, although he never studied at the Bavarian capital’s Academy of Fine Arts, Hatzis was an exceptional seascapist, often rivalling or even surpassing his teacher Constantinos Volanakis. The son of a shipowner, he sailed on many vessels ploughing the Greek seas and studied ships in great detail.

In 1912-1913, during the Balkan Wars, he painted a number of exquisite naval battle scenes captured with powerful realism. 1 On government orders, he observed operations aboard the warships 'Averoff' and 'Miaoulis' or from the Moudros naval base on the island of Limnos, recording the glorious historical events with spontaneity, directness and strong romantic elements. 2 In an evocative landscape lit by a rising sun, the legendary battleship 'Averoff', the flagship of the Greek fleet and the most important and impressive vessel in the history of the Hellenic Navy, surges through the choppy seas of the Aegean, followed by the warships 'Hydra' 'Spetsai' and 'Psara' and the destroyers 'Aetos', 'Ierax', 'Leon' and 'Panthir' to meet with the Turkish fleet in the victorious and legendary Battle of Elli.

1. See M. Vlachos, The Greek Seascape Painting [in Greek], Olkos publ. Athens 1993, p. 232.
2. See F. Yofyllis, History of Modern Greek Art, [in Greek], vol.1, To Elliniko Viblio publ., Athens 1962, p. 206 and Z. Haidou-Lykouri, "The Pathways of the Sea Meet the Pathways of Art" in The Sea, exh. cat., Municipal Gallery of Athens - Hellenic Maritime Museum, Athens 2000, p. 53.