Oddity of the Week: Olympic Fencing, 1896
Created | Updated Aug 27, 2012
This week's Oddity brings you a blast from the Olympic past.
Fencing Before the King of Greece: An Olympic Moment
This painting has it all: the thrill of competition, the elegance of form, the glitter of VIPs. . .
What, you say? That little man in the funny moustache was the King of Greece? We guess so, it says it in the title. This was the 1896 Olympics, remember. Things were slower then, and stuffier, and everybody had funny moustaches. (Well, at least everybody male.)
The painting is oil, by J André Castaigne (1861-1929), a French painter and illustrator who lived for a time in the US. It was used to illustrate the article, 'The Olympic games of 1896', by Pierre Coubertin, in the November, 1896 issue of the magazine Century.
Castaigne illustrated many books and magazines. His output was prolific, and – as you can see from this example – he had a real flair for conveying the mood, important in the days before widespread magazine photography. If you're interested, you can read more about him here. The link has more examples of the work of this talented artist.
Fencing, as we learn from the Guide, is one of only five sports to be included in every summer Olympic games from 1896 onward. The foil event for 1896 was won by Emile Gravelotte of France and the sabre by Jean Georgiadis of Greece. There was also an event for fencing masters, which was won by Léon Pyrgos of Greece, who defeated his French opponent 3-1.
We're not sure who's in the illustration, other than Γεωργιος Α, otherwise known as George I. The artist has got it right: the Danish-born king really did have the most amazing moustache.
