Julián Romero de las Azañas e il suo santo patrono san Giuliano

El Greco painted this in Toledo around 1612, in his final years, and the man kneeling in armour was no invention. An inscription on the column names him Julian Romero, a soldier who began in the ranks and rose to command whole regiments for Philip II, fighting at Saint Quentin and in the long wars in the Low Countries. Here he prays under the hand of his name-saint, Julian, who stands behind him in armour of his own and presents him gently forward. El Greco draws both figures tall and narrow and lights them with a cold silver glow, so a hardened career soldier appears not in battle but in the hushed instant of being introduced to heaven.