His father was hanged by the Ottoman Army near the very beginning of the war, in 1821,[1] and he had to flee with his mother into the mountains.
By 1832, he was in an orphanage, where his artistic talent was discovered by Friedrich Thiersch, a scholar who had played a significant role in making a Bavarian prince (Otto) the new King of Greece.
Thiersch took him to Munich, where he attended the "Panhellenion",[2] a school for orphans of the Greek revolution, founded by King Ludwig I.
[3] After graduation, he spent ten years travelling throughout Europe, including a two-year stay in Greece from 1848 to 1850.
In his will, he left all of the works in his studio to the University of Athens and 760 Marks to repair the roof of the Salvatorkirche in Munich.