St Antypas - Pyroi, Cyprus

Wootton was primarily an aviation artist, famous for depicting the Royal Air Force during the WW II. He travelled to the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia after the war and was commissioned to paint the island of Cyprus for propaganda purposes. He produced nine oils of various views of the island during 1951 which were also turned into posters. He revisited in 1971 and 1975. During his first visit, the Governor of Cyprus Sir Andrew Wright organised an exhibition at the British Institute where Wootton, two photographers from the National geographic and Reno Wideson participated. During his second visit to Cyprus, Wootton exchanged one of his Cyprus paintings for a carpet. The oil affords a view of Piroi village through a beautiful arch of the Cypriot style. The village’s name derives from the red of the earth in the area (pyrros gaia). A Franciscan feudal estate in medieval times, the village remained mixed until 1964 when the Turkish inhabitants moved to the nearby village of Louroudjina as a result of intercommunal troubles. They returned in 1974 ousting the Greek Cypriots during the war. The church of Ayios Antypas is a small three aisle construction in the Byzantine style. The villager with his donkeys is wearing a black pair of pantaloons, a blue shirt and a white head cover. By this time (1951), the attire of Cypriots had done away with conventional rules and was not indicative of ethnic origins. The painting is bathed in bright light and crisp colours to underline the effect of acclaimed magic which the Cyprus light had upon artists.