A Santíssima Trindade

This was among the first things El Greco painted after reaching Toledo in 1577, part of his very first Spanish commission, the high altar of the convent church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo. He took the composition from a print by Albrecht Durer: God the Father cradling the dead body of Christ, the dove of the Holy Spirit above them, a ring of angels crowding in close. The body of Christ carries the heavy muscle of Michelangelo, whose work El Greco had seen in Rome, while the acid blues and yellows come straight from his years in Venice. The panel hung high above the altar, which is why the figures are so large and lit from below, built to be read by worshippers looking up.