Théodore Ralli

Théodore Jacques Ralli or Theodorus Rallis was a Greek painter, watercolourist and draughtsman, who spent most of his working life in France, Greece and Egypt. Ralli was an Academic, Orientalist and Impressionist painter. He painted genre works, portraits, local figures, architectural subjects, interiors with figures and animals. Ralli is known for his orientalist paintings and paintings of Greek everyday life. Ralli was from a wealthy Greek family known as the Ralli family. They were one of the wealthiest and most successful Greek merchant families of the 19th century, and the Ralli company was operated primarily by the extended family. They had operations spanning the entire world. Maria Katsanaki’s 2007 dissertation features a catalog of over 400 paintings attributed to Ralli. Most of his works are in private collections. Rallis was a student of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouy, both painters were orientalist, and Gérôme also painted in the style known as academicism. Ralli was considered one of Gérôme's best students. His work The Booty drew inspiration from Gérôme's The Slave Market.