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Gio Berzika Gio Berzika was not one of them, he never even tried to get an education in the Academy of Arts. Gio was born in Ildritz in the autumn of 1785. His father is owner of a pawnshop, and Gio was going to be his successor. Although the pawnshop is doing well, there is not enough money to get Gio some additional education in art. Some of Gio’s best friends are artists, and they hang out together in the “Hvoftuli” inn near Gio’s parental house. Gio decided to be a painter in 1802, but stayed in the pawnshop as well. He didn’t want to join the students at the Academy, because his best friend Chesso Alladson was refused to study there. Poor Chesso, only 21 years old, committed suicide after the refusal. Gio started painting and did well. Because he had no proper education, he had a unveiled view of what he wanted to paint - he just did the things as he wanted them to be. During the late nocturnal stondes in “Hvoftuli” he discussed his arts with his friends, and they all were influenced by Gio’s approach to art. First, the paintings of Gio went the way of many unobserved piece of art, the public was oblivious to them. Only the customers of the pawnshop bought some of the paintings - to discover in a few years they could sell them for many skatts more than they had paid for them. Young Gio was a handsome man, and as he was painting on the banks of the Nordan one day, he was spotted by the Freule Iguina of Mulinzol. She fell in love with him and introduced him to the salons. Iguina bought some paintings and let Gio make a portrait of her. The paintings were put in the salon of the Mulinzol Palace at Ildritz. Visitors of the salon were much too polite to tell the host the paintings were out of the ordinary, and soon Gio’s art was in fashion. The main themes of Gio’s work is the hard life of the poor in Daleth, and the struggle for life in general. Gio and his friends have a rather depressing view to life, and are called depressionists throughout Daleth. In the dark colours of their paintings, they show a certain political engagement, without being too explicit about it. Gio Berzika became soon very famous, and still is. He married freule Iguina in 1805. His father still runs the pawnshop, but Gio is seldom seen there. He lives with his wife and 3 children in their houses in Mulinzol and Ildritz. The house in Ildritz contains a small museum of Gio’s art, and has a small corner for the works of Chesso Alladson. Related topics: |