MuseScope.
El Greco

El Greco

1541–1614 · Crown of Castile · Spanish Renaissance

The story

He signed his paintings in Greek letters, Doménikos Theotokópoulos, all his life, even after Spain nicknamed him El Greco, the Greek. He was born on Crete in 1541 and trained in the flat, gold Byzantine manner of icon painting, then sailed to Venice and Rome to learn the oil technique of the Italian Renaissance. Around 1577 he settled in Toledo, the old religious capital of Spain, and never left.

He arrived hoping for royal work. King Philip II gave him one commission for the palace-monastery of El Escorial, a martyrdom scene finished around 1582, and disliked it enough to hang it out of the way and hire someone else. That closed the court to him. It also freed him, and Toledo's churches and priests kept him busy for the rest of his life with the burning, stretched, candle-lit saints that suited a city at the heart of the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church's push back against Protestantism.

For roughly 300 years after his death in 1614 he was treated as an eccentric, his elongated figures dismissed as a defect of eyesight or taste. Then painters at the start of the 20th century, Cézanne and the young Picasso among them, found in those distortions something deliberate and modern. Picasso studied El Greco's work closely in the years he was inventing Cubism.

Works

203 works
Julian Romero de las Azanas and his patron St. JulianJulian Romero de las Azanas and his patron St. JulianEl Greco, 1612Portrait of a gentlemanPortrait of a gentlemanEl Greco, 1586Portrait of a ManPortrait of a ManEl Greco, 1570Portrait of Rodrigo de la FuentePortrait of Rodrigo de la FuenteEl Greco, 1585Saint Jerome as ScholarSaint Jerome as ScholarEl Greco, 1610St Joseph and the Christ ChildSt Joseph and the Christ ChildEl Greco, 1600The Adoration of the ShepherdsThe Adoration of the ShepherdsEl Greco, 1602The AnnunciationThe AnnunciationEl Greco, 1570The AnnunciationThe AnnunciationEl Greco, 1597The Apparition of the Virgin to Saint HyacinthThe Apparition of the Virgin to Saint HyacinthEl Greco, 1605The CrucifixionThe CrucifixionEl Greco, 1598The Immaculate Conception with Saint John the EvangelistThe Immaculate Conception with Saint John the EvangelistEl Greco, 1580The Repentant MagdalenThe Repentant MagdalenEl Greco, 1577The Tears of Saint PeterThe Tears of Saint PeterEl Greco, 1595The Tears of Saint PeterThe Tears of Saint PeterEl Greco, 1585The VisitationThe VisitationEl Greco, 1610Christ Healing the BlindChrist Healing the BlindEl Greco, 1570Madonna and Child with Saint Martina and Saint AgnesMadonna and Child with Saint Martina and Saint AgnesEl Greco, 1598Mater dolorosaMater dolorosaEl Greco, 1597Penitent Mary MagdalenPenitent Mary MagdalenEl Greco, 1585Portrait of a man, possibly Alonso de HerreraPortrait of a man, possibly Alonso de HerreraEl Greco, 1600Portrait of Luís GonzagaPortrait of Luís GonzagaEl Greco, 1583Saint Francis of Assisi in ecstasySaint Francis of Assisi in ecstasyEl Greco, 1600Saint PaulSaint PaulEl Greco, 1610St JamesSt JamesEl Greco, 1608