救世主キリスト

Near the end of his life, working in Toledo, El Greco and his workshop turned out a set the Spanish called an apostolado: Christ together with his 12 apostles, each a half-length figure meant to hang in a row. This is the Christ that led them. He faces straight out, raising his right hand in blessing, his left resting on a clear glass globe that marks him as saviour of the whole world. El Greco had painted such sets before for Toledo Cathedral, and reused the format for a church out in the province of Guadalajara. The colours are his late ones, cold blue and a deep red lit as if from within, and the drawing is stretched the way only he stretched a body. The globe is nearly transparent, the fingers visible through it.