Manusso Theotokopoulos

Around 1603 El Greco took his elder brother into his house in Toledo. Manoussos had been a merchant and seafarer back on their native Crete, but his fortunes had collapsed, and he spent his last months, from 1603 to 1604, dependent on the painter. This portrait dates from that time. El Greco gave him the long, narrow face and the searching, slightly unfocused gaze that mark so many of his sitters, the features stretched well past what any real face would allow. The stiff fur collar and cap are built up in thick, quick strokes, while the flesh is kept pale and restrained. It is one of the few times he painted a member of his own family.