Nikolaos Gyzis was born on the island of Tinos, Greece, which has a long artistic history. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts and later received a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, where he settled for the rest of his life. Gyzis was incorporated into the German pictorial climate and became a representative of the Greek artistic movement from the Munich school. Some of his notable works include News of Victory, Apotheosis of Bavaria, The Carnival in Athens, and After the Destruction of Psara. Later in his life, he focused on religious themes and his best known late work is Triumph of Religion.