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El Greco
The Assumption of the Virgin
The Assumption of the Virgin (1577?C1579, oil on canvas, 401 ?? 228 cm, Art Institute of Chicago) was one of the nine paintings El Greco completed for the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo, his first commission in Spain.
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El Greco
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586?C1588, oil on canvas, 480 ?? 360 cm, Santo Tom??, Toledo), now El Greco's best known work, illustrates a popular local legend. An exceptionally large painting, it is clearly divided into two zones: the heavenly above and the terrestrial below, brought together compositionally.
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El Greco
The Disrobing of Christ
The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio) (1577?C1579, oil on canvas, 285 ?? 173 cm, Sacristy of the Cathedral, Toledo) is one of the most famous altarpieces of El Greco. El Greco's altarpieces are renowned for their dynamic compositions and startling innovations.
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El Greco
View of Toledo
View of Toledo (c. 1596?C1600, oil on canvas, 47.75 ?? 42.75 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) is one of the two surviving landscapes of Toledo painted by El Greco.
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El Greco
The Holy Trinity
The Holy Trinity (1577?C1579, 300 ?? 178 cm, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain) was part of a group of works created for the church "Santo Domingo el Antiguo".
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El Greco
The Opening of the Fifth Seal
The Opening of the Fifth Seal (1608?C1614, oil, 225 ?? 193 cm., New York, Metropolitan Museum) has been suggested to be the prime source of inspiration for Picasso's Les Demoiselles d' Avignon.
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El Greco
Picasso Les Demoiselles d Avignon
Picasso's Les Demoiselles d' Avignon (1907, oil on canvas, 243.9 ?? 233.7 cm., New York, Museum of Modern Art) appears to have certain morphological and stylistic similarities with The Opening of the Fifth Seal.
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El Greco
Portrait of Jorge Manuel Theotocopoulos
Portrait of Jorge Manuel Theotocopoulos (1600?C1605, oil on canvas, 81 ?? 56 cm, Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Seville)
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El Greco
The Modena Triptych
The Modena Triptych (1568, tempera on panel, 37 ?? 23,8 cm (central), 24 ?? 18 cm (side panels), Galleria Estense, Modena) is a small-scale composition attributed to El Greco.
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El Greco
The Purification of the Temple
1571-76 Oil on canvas Institute of Arts, Minneapolis The most significant iconographic feature of this version is the introduction in the lower right-hand corner four portraits of artists. They are, from left to right, Titian, Michelangelo, Giulio Clovio and Raphael (although it has also been suggested that this figure is El Greco himself, Giulio Romano or even Correggio). Their presence can be interpreted as a straightforward homage by El Greco to those artists to whom he felt indebted (and some of whose works he was quoting in the picture).
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El Greco
Portrait of a Man
1586-90 Oil on cardboard, 7,9 x 5,7 cm The Hispanic Society of America, New York Work by El Greco in small format, which includes miniatures, small-scale religious paintings and reduced versions of larger compositions, is well documented from the time of his residence in Italy onwards. Yet this interesting portrait miniature remains one of the few known in his oeuvre. It bears an original signature on the back
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El Greco
St John the Evangelist
1577 Black chalk with traces of white, on yellowish paper, 255 x 155 mm Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid The drawing is a study for St John the Evangelist, one of the six canvases that El Greco painted for the altarpiece on the High altar of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo The drawing, now considerably faded, served a practical purpose. The squaring of the sheet indicates that it was used to transfer the design on to the full-scale canvas. In many respects the painting follows the drawing very closely: the arrangements of the hands, feet and draperies are virtually identical
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El Greco
Study for St John the Evangelist and an Angel
1596-99 Pen and pale-brown ink and wash on off-white paper, 337 x 210 mm J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles This is one of he very few drawings universally accepted as by El Greco. It is a study for the Crucifixion in the Prado, Madrid. It shows the figure of St John the Evangelist, who in the painting is stationed at the foot of the cross on the right side looking up at the crucified Christ. The pose and the gestures are virtually identical. The principal difference is in the figure of the angel, who in the drawing is very close to the saint, whereas in the painting the figures do not overlap at all
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El Greco
Two Saints
1577-79 Wood, height about 150 cm Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo The sculptures decorating the altar of Santo Domingo were executed by the Escorial artist J. B. Monegro after designs by El Greco
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El Greco
Epimetheus and Pandora
1600s Polychromed wood, height: 43 cm Conde de la Infantas Collection, Granada A few sculptures, including these two strange nudes, have been attributed to El Greco. This attribution is doubtful, however. It is based on the testimony of Pacheco, who saw in El Greco's studio a series of figurines of wax, stucco, and wood, but these may have been merely models, like those used in the Italian workshops where El Greco was trained. The figures illustrated recall certain nudes in paintings by El Greco in their elongated proportions, their supple postures, and their opposition in contrapposto. Nevertheless, they also evoke certain Florentine mannerists, Sansovino or Cellini, and their naturalism and the accentuated musculature of the male figure are surprising for El Greco. The identification of the statuettes is also problematical. Originally thought to represent Adam and Eve or even Vulcan and Venus, they were correctly identified as representing Epimetheus and Pandora in 1961. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Pandora was the first woman, created from the earth and water. She was brought to life with heavenly fire and married Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Zeus gave her a beautiful box containing all manner of evils and calamities and Pandora or according to some versions of the myth, Epimetheus, opened it, releasing them into the world. These small statuettes are carved in wood and painted in oils, the traditional materials of Spanish polychrome sculpture. They are undocumented works but the attribution to the artist is generally accepted
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El Greco
Bust of an Apostle
1612-14 Unpainted wood, height: 48 cm Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid There is only one surviving sculpture by El Greco's own hand in the Toledo Cathedral. Several others were executed by J. B. Monegro after designs by El Greco, among them a series of Apostles
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El Greco
The Annunciation
128 x 83 cm Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio The colour and ecstatic movement is of the utmost splendour and grace, appropriate to the presentation of this particular Mystery, one of El Greco's favourite themes. The painting is a later and simpler version of the subject painted for the Colegio de Do?a Maria, Madrid
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El Greco
assumption of the virgin
painted 1577
158x90
the art institute of chicago
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El Greco
assumption of the virgin,detail
painted1577
the art instute of chicago
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El Greco
holy trinity
painted 1577-78
118x70
the prado museum, madrid
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| El Greco
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Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614
Considered a representative of late Renaissance Spanish art, El Greco was actually born in Greece, on the island of Crete. After studying in Venice under Titian, El Greco settled in Toledo, Spain in 1577. At the time he was wildly popular, his emotionally religious paintings being just the ticket for the hometown of the Spanish Inquisition. After his death his work was largely ignored until the beginning of the 20th century; now he considered one of the inspired geniuses of Western art. His distinctive style features bold shapes and colors, with elongated and slightly distorted figures.
In Toledo El Greco was in constant demand and liked living large: he maintained a private orchestra to accompany his meals.
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