Dealer · Agent · Scholar
Yanni Petsopoulos
fl. 1980–1993 · Greece
London dealer who showed the Menil Foundation photographs of the Lysi frescoes in 1983 and supervised the Swiss escrow set up to redeem them for the Church of Cyprus.
Biography
In June 1983 Yanni Petsopoulos handed a Menil Foundation official two black-and-white photographs in London: a dome with Christ Pantokrator and angels, and an orant Virgin, from murals said to be held by a Turkish collector in Munich. The Menil's own account calls him a "well-known Islamic and Byzantine scholar, dealer, and publisher"2. Dan Hofstadter describes him as a "carpet and icon merchant"1. The photographs showed the Lysi frescoes, and Dominique de Menil, Walter Hopps and Petsopoulos went to Munich to see them; Aydın Dikmen knew only Petsopoulos by name2. In Hofstadter's version, taken from de Menil's deposition, Petsopoulos told Hopps and de Menil that he had discovered the frescoes1.
On 1 November 1983 the Foundation resolved to authorise de Menil, "through Mr. Petsopoulos", to redeem the murals for the Church of Cyprus. In December he supervised the placing of the funds Dikmen demanded in a Swiss escrow account, released once the fragments had reached London2. Hopps testified that Petsopoulos also persuaded Dikmen to return two Kanakaria mosaic roundels in 19841; Constantine Leventis testified that they came back through Petsopoulos, left in a Frankfurt warehouse for staff of the Cypriot embassy1.
Gary Vikan testified that Petsopoulos offered him the frescoes for $600,000 before approaching the Menil; Petsopoulos told Hofstadter he had only asked for advice. Savo Kujundžić swore that Petsopoulos had taken goods from Dikmen on consignment; Petsopoulos denied it1. No source states that he was charged with any offence.
In November 1991 a St John Prodromos icon he had consigned was withdrawn from Sotheby's after protests by the Church of Cyprus. At the High Court in April 1992 he said he was not its owner and believed it was not stolen, and custody was ordered. He returned it in early 1993 and the Church thanked him formally1.
Life and work
- June 1983A Menil official (the acting registrar's superior, Davezac as author of the introduction) learned that Petsopoulos, 'the well-known Islamic and Byzantine scholar, dealer, and publisher', had heard of a major Byzantine work on the market. In London Petsopoulos gave him two poor black-and-white photographs (dome with Pantokrator and angels; orant Virgin between archangels) of murals held, he said, by a Turkish collector in Munich who claimed they had been legally taken out of Turkey. The official showed them to Dominique de Menil in Paris; a day or two later de Menil, Elsian Cozens, Hopps, Petsopoulos and the author converged on Munich.
London; Paris; MunichCarr & Morrocco 1991
- June 1983At the Munich meetings (hotel lobby, a storage flat with the cut plaster panels, then Dikmen's own apartment) the Menil party never revealed its identity: 'Mr. Petsopoulos was the only person that Dikman knew by name'. Dikmen's story: a contractor bulldozing near Bim-bir-Kilisse in southern Anatolia found the church; he produced a pen drawing, plans and an export permit. The party suspected he was lying and engaged Herbert Brownell in late June. Hofstadter's version of the same episode (from de Menil's deposition): Petsopoulos 'told Walter Hopps and Mrs. de Menil that he had discovered' the frescoes and took his two clients to Munich.
- 5 July 1983While Davezac searched the Dumbarton Oaks photographic archive in Washington, Petsopoulos made a similar search in London at the Courtauld Institute; both found nothing on the murals but concluded Cyprus, not Turkey, was their real home.
LondonCarr & Morrocco 1991
- 1983–1984Hofstadter reports Hopps's deposition on refusing to name the owner: asked by Karageorghis in whose hands the frescoes were, Hopps refused, citing a warning from Petsopoulos that the possessor might destroy them or take vengeance. Hofstadter adds that Petsopoulos 'had never revealed it, either'. Leventis (interviewed by Hofstadter) said that at the time he asked Petsopoulos for the possessor's name and saw he would not give it, a matter of dealers' 'etiquette about sources'.
- 1984Return of two Kanakaria roundels (Jude and Bartholomew) to Cyprus. Leventis (deposition): returned along with two fakes through the agency of Petsopoulos, who arranged for them to be left in a Frankfurt warehouse for Cypriot Embassy staff from Bonn. Hopps (deposition, as reported): Petsopoulos persuaded 'the Turkish gentleman' to return them free of charge, after an 'enormous emotional explosion' with Dikmen at his villa near Konya in which Petsopoulos hurled a decanter into the fireplace. Hofstadter notes two journals contradicted Leventis's claim that no money was paid. Michel van Rijn told Hofstadter (second-hand, uncorroborated) that Petsopoulos pressed Dikmen to hand over the mosaics, using the money waiting in escrow as leverage, and that Dikmen kept the better pieces. Savo said Dikmen never took part in any decanter scene.
FrankfurtHofstadter 1994
- January 1984Fragments moved from Munich to London after release arrangements; Petsopoulos, a client of the London conservator Laurence Morrocco, first approached him in summer 1983 about reconstructing fresco fragments (not revealing much), and later sat as 'consulting specialist' with Hopps and Mancusi-Ungaro on inpainting and crating decisions during the 1984-88 restoration.
LondonCarr & Morrocco 1991
- May 1989In Cyprus v. Goldberg (Indianapolis) Gary Vikan testified Petsopoulos had offered the frescoes to him at Dumbarton Oaks for $600,000 before approaching the Menil; Savo Kujundzic swore Petsopoulos had taken goods from Dikmen on consignment and mediated at Sotheby's between Dikmen and Leventis; Petsopoulos told Hofstadter he never offered the frescoes to Dumbarton Oaks and never had anything on consignment from Dikmen. See legal.
IndianapolisHofstadter 1994
- November 1991Icon of St John Prodromos withdrawn from a Sotheby's sale after protests from the Church of Cyprus, whose attorneys produced affidavits from old men placing it in a northern village church; it had been consigned by Petsopoulos.
LondonHofstadter 1994
- April 1992At a High Court of Justice hearing in London Petsopoulos acknowledged consigning the icon and said he would refuse to hand it over unless compelled; the court ordered it delivered into the custody of a respected art shipper until rightful possession was decided. He told Hofstadter he told the Church's lawyers they had no case, that he was not the owner, and that he had good reason to believe it was not stolen.
LondonHofstadter 1994
- April 1992RulingHigh Court of Justice, London: ordered the icon of St John Prodromos consigned by Petsopoulos into the custody of an art shipper until rightful possession was decided. No finding of theft or wrongdoing by Petsopoulos is reported; per Hofstadter he returned the icon in early 1993.
- 1993Hofstadter: in early 1993, after 'a furious behind-the-scenes struggle', Petsopoulos returned the St John Prodromos icon to the Church of Cyprus, receiving a formal expression of the Church's gratitude. Hofstadter adds that two unconnected sources, one in Cyprus and one in London, told him Petsopoulos secretly received GBP 8,000 from the Church (unnamed sources; unverified).
Connections
12 peopleSales, gifts & bequests
- Bought from Aydın Dikmen1983–1984
- Agent for Aydın Dikmen1983–1984
- Sold to Dominique de Menil1983–1984
- Agent for Dominique de Menil1983–1984
Colleagues & contacts
- Connected with Savo Kujundžićdisputed1980–1989
- Worked with Stavros Mihalariaspossibly1980
- Worked with Aydın Dikmen1983–1984
- Worked with Bertrand Davezac1983
- Connected with Constantine Leventisdisputed1983–1984
- Worked with Constantine Leventis1983–1984
- Connected with Gary Vikan1983
- Worked with Laurence J. Morocco1983–1988
- Worked with Walter Hopps1983–1984
- Connected with Walter Hopps1983–1984
- Worked with Carol Mancusi-Ungaro1984–1988
- Connected with Peg Goldberg1989
- Connected with Michel van Rijnpossibly
On Ancient Cyprus
1 pageSources
- 1.Dan Hofstadter (1994). Goldberg's Angel: An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade.
- 2.Annemarie Weyl Carr, Laurence J. Morrocco (1991). A Byzantine Masterpiece Recovered: The Thirteenth-Century Murals of Lysi, Cyprus. Austin, University of Texas Press, with the Menil Foundation.