Alexander Constantine Ionides


Alexander Constantine Ionides was a British art patron and collector, of Greek ancestry.

Life

Alexander Constantine Iplixes was born in Constantinople on 1 September 1810. His parents were Constantine Ioannes "Iplikzis" Ioannou/Ionides and his wife Mariora Ioannou-Sentoukakis. His father set up a London branch for his trading firm in c.1815. In 1827 Alexander came to London, finishing his education at Brixton.
He married Euterpe Sgouta in Constantinople, before settling in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. They would have five children.
He then founded his own textile and wheat trading-firm, Ionides and Company, operating between London and the Near East and the Balkans.
He soon began to patronise the arts around 1829, both in Britain and in Greece.
, 1841
In 1834 Ionides and his family moved to London, where they lived at 9 Finsbury Circus from 1834 to 1839). In 1837 he became a naturalised British citizen. Afterwards they moved to Tulse Hill and finally to 1 Holland Park, during which time began to gather an artistic salon at his home. Acting as Greek consul-general in 1854–1866, he held directorships of the Crystal Palace.

Children