The painter Polychronis Lembesis was born in Salamis in 1848 and passed away in Athens in 1913.
He began his artistic studies at the School of Fine Arts under professors including Nikiforos Lytras and Vikentios Lantsas. He continued his studies at the Munich Academy and returned to Athens around 1880.
Initially, he achieved considerable success as a portraitist of prominent personalities of the era (F. Serpieris, Dragoumis family), as well as a painter of genre scenes. He also engaged with still lifes, nudes, murals for churches in Athens and Piraeus, and portable icons.
He died forgotten and was brought back into the spotlight relatively recently through efforts to critically reposition the Munich School and the so-called “academic” painting tradition in general.
He exhibited his works at the Olympia Exhibitions (1870, 1875, 1888), at Parnassos exhibitions (1885, 1890), and at the Exposition Internationale Universelle in Paris (1900).