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Oil Paintings
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GRECO, El
Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614
Greek painter, designer and engraver, active in Italy and Spain. One of the most original and interesting painters of 16th-century Europe, he transformed the Byzantine style of his early paintings into another, wholly Western manner. He was active in his native Crete, in Venice and Rome, and, during the second half of his life, in Toledo. He was renowned in his lifetime for his originality and extravagance and provides one of the most curious examples of the oscillations of taste in the evaluation of a painter,
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GRECO, El
The Annunciation
1596-1600 Oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid Author: GRECO, El Title: The Annunciation (detail) , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Annunciation
114 x 67 cm Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid This painting is a remarkably fine reduced replica of one of El Greco's most haunting images, the Annunciation in the Prado, Madrid, that is almost three times as large. The Prado Annunciation formed the centre of the elaborate altarpiece commissioned from the artist in 1596 for the Colegio de Do?a Mar?a de Arag?n. El Greco's habit of making reduced replicas is amply documented. It is common knowledge that El Greco kept smaller, preliminary versions of almost all his works at home to show to his customers, and that he considered them finished, definitive works in themselves. Author: GRECO, El Title: The Annunciation , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Adoration of the Shepherds
1596-1600 Oil on canvas National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest The detail shows the lower part of the painting which was probably on the left of the retable of the Colegio de Do?a Maria. Author: GRECO, El Title: Adoration of the Shepherds (detail) , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Crucifixion
1596-1600 Oil on canvas, 312 x 169 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Christ on the Cross, at the moment of expiration, with the Virgin and Saint John, and at the foot of the Cross, the Magdalene. Probably originally above the Annunciation, in the retable of the Colegio of Do?a Mar?a. This painting and the Annunciation are the two widest of the series. Already, in Santo Domingo el Antiguo, the artist had sensibly related together in composition the two central paintings of the high altar, the Assumption and Trinity. Again, there is this compositional relationship of the two paintings, but there is also something more in this bringing together of the two so diverse yet intimately related themes of the Virgin's reception of the Holy Ghost, and Christ's giving up of the Holy Ghost. One subject represents one of the Joys of the Virgin, and the other incorporates one of Her Griefs. Each painting is divided horizontally in three. The figure of Christ of the Expiration is a continuation upwards of the central zone of the Annunciation with the Flames and the Dove; the figure of the Archangel Gabriel has its counterpart in the figure of Saint John; and the Virgin of Joy appears above as the Virgin of Grief. This painting of the Crucifixion is one of the great interpretations of the subject in painting and almost inevitably brings to mind two other great Crucifixions, Gr?newald's of the Isenheim Altar and Giotto's of the Arena Chapel. El Greco has introduced more of those symbols embodying spiritual emotions: the clamouring angels with outstretched arms encircling the Body of Christ - strangely recalling Giotto's painting - and the remarkable figure of the angel at the foot of the Cross. Author: GRECO, El Title: The Crucifixion , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Altarpiece
1597-99 - Capilla de San Jos? Toledo On 9 November 1597, El Greco signed a contract to execute a series of paintings for the newly built Capilla de San Jose (Chapel of Saint Joseph), Toledo. The contract specified that El Greco was to paint the altarpieces himself and design and gild the frames. The centrepiece of the decorative scheme was to be a painting of Saint Joseph and the Infant Christ with The Coronation of the Virgin above it. These two paintings, set in an altarpiece in a Palladian style designed by El Greco, though its surroundings were altered by Baroque additions around 1665, are still in situ; recent cleaning has revealed their masterly quality. In addition, El Greco was commissioned to paint two side altarpieces, Saint Martin and the Beggar hung on the left-hand side of the main altar, while The Virgin and Child with Saints Martina and Agnes was placed directly opposite, on the right-hand side of the altar, where they remained until they were sold in 1906 to the American collector Peter A. B. Widener, from his estate they entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1942. The chapel was consecrated on 24 December 1594. At a later date, two sarcophagi were placed on either side of the main altar. Possibly designed by El Greco or his son Jorge Manuel, they are similar in design to the ark and the obelisk with a ball on top that appear in the background of El Greco's late Purification of the Temple from San Gin?s. Mart?n Ram?rez was buried to the left of the altar while Diego Ort?z and his wife were placed to the right, in each case with a plaque above stating that they were co-founders of the chapel. The two sculptures of David and Salomon, situated on either side of the main altar was possibly also designed by El Greco. Author: GRECO, El Title: Altarpiece , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Portrait of a Man
53 x 47 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This painting was identified for long time as a self-portrait and as such it became one of El Greco's most famous portraits. However, lacking certified portraits of the artist, the identification is only a plausible hypothesis based on the resemblance of the sitter to other figures in El Greco's paintings that have also been thought to record the artist's features. There are several assumed self-portraits of the artist included in his compositions from the early Healing of the Blind to the Burial of Count Orgaz, then to the Pentecost, Marriage of the Virgin and the Adoration of the Shepherds. Regardless of the identification of the sitter, this is a fine and particularly compelling portrait by the artist, with the features painted with great sensitivity. The canvas has been trimmed on all sides. The signature on the painting proved to be false and was removed in 1947. Author: GRECO, El Title: Portrait of a Man , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , portrait
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GRECO, El
Holy Family with
138 x 103,5 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest A repetition painted after the original made for the Hospital de Tavera in Toledo in 1595. Author: GRECO, El Title: Holy Family with St Anne , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
St Ildefonso
112 x 65 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington This is a smaller replica of the picture in the Hospital de la Caridad in Illescas. It belonged once to the painter Jean Francois Millet, and later to Edgar Degas. The original painting is in the side altar on the left of the main chapel of the church, balancing the Virgin of Charity. Its original place in the church is not known. The painting is not mentioned in the incomplete documentation for the decoration of the chapel, and if, as is probable, it was not painted at the same time, it cannot date much before June 1603, the date of the contract, and was more likely painted soon after the conclusion of litigation in August 1607. In its present position, it makes a grand pair to the Virgin of Charity, and is one of the most splendid of his 'portraits' of Saints. It is difficult, and perhaps not proper, to separate his portraits of Saints from his actual portraits. In both he employs all his means of spiritual or psychological expression. The legend is that Saint Ildefonso, the first Bishop of Toledo, presented an image of the Virgin of the Mantle to a foundation of his in Illescas. The Saint is portrayed before the same image, as he wrote his dissertation on the Purity of the Virgin. The state of inspiration is brilliantly expressed. There is an infinite distinction in expression between the hand poised with the pen in this 'portrait' and the similar motif in the portrait of his son. Author: GRECO, El Title: St Ildefonso , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Christ c
98 x 78 cm Cathedral, Toledo This painting belongs to the series of Apostles (Apostolodos) in the Toledo Cathedral. Author: GRECO, El Title: Christ , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Penitent Magdalen
118 x 105 cm Private collection Autograph version, signed 'dom?nikos theot?kopoulos epoiei'. It is a late composition of the artist, recalling the iconography of Titian. Author: GRECO, El Title: Penitent Magdalen , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Agony in the Garden
1608 Oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest Author: GRECO, El Title: The Agony in the Garden (detail) , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
A Prelate 1600s Oil on canvas
107 x 90 cm Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth The identity of the sitter was only established in 1988, despite the fact that the portrait must record a prominent figure. He was identified with Francisco de Pisa (c. 1537-1616), Professor of Holy Scripture at Toledo University, the author of a major history of Toledo and a prominent figure in ecclesiastical affairs in the city. The identification rests on the striking resemblance between his features and those of a documented miniature of Francisco de Pisa in a private collection, that was, at one time, ascribed to El Greco himself. The open book displayed on the table is identified by lettering on its pages as BOSIUS CANONICI, presumably an edition or commentary on the corpus of canon law. The author of the text is probably Francesco Bossi or Bosio (1500/10-1584), who specialized in law. In Rome Bossi was closely associated with Carlo Borromeo, one of the key figures of the Catholic reform. Author: GRECO, El Title: A Prelate , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , portrait
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GRECO, El
Apostle St Andrew
97 x 77 cm Museo de El Greco, Toledo Apostle, was brother of Peter, a Galilean fisherman, and the first to follow Christ (John 1:40-41). The gospels contribute little to his iconography; the chief source is the apocryphal book of the 'Acts of Andrew' (3rd century), retold in the Golden Legend. According to this he made missionary journeys to Scythian Russia, Asia Minor and Greece, preaching and performing many acts of healing. At Nicaea he delivered the inhabitants from seven demons who plagued them in the shape of dogs. At Thessalonica the parents of a young man whom he had converted to Christianity set fire to his house, with Andrew and their son in it. When the young man miraculously extinguished the fire by sprinkling a small bottle of water over the flames, his parents, still seeking vengeance, tried to enter the house by climbing ladders, but were immediately struck blind. The Golden Legend tells of a bishop dining with the devil, disguised as a courtesan. Just as he was about to yield to Satan, Andrew entered in the garb of a pilgrim, and drove the devil away. Andrew was executed by Egeas, the Roman governor of Patras in the Peloponnese. The governor's wife, Maximilla, being cured of a fatal sickness by the apostle, adopted Christianity and was persuaded by him to deny her husband his marital rights ever again. This, and not his preaching, seems to have been the cause of Andrew's imprisonment and subsequent crucifixion. Andrew is the patron saint of Greece and Scotland. Among differing accounts of his relics, one tells of their being carried to the town of St Andrews in Scotland in the 4th century. Apostle St Andrew in Art He is usually portrayed as an old man, white-haired and bearded. His chief attribute is a cross in the shape of an X, or saltire, though in earlier Renaissance painting he may have the more familiar Latin cross. He sometimes has a net containing fish, or a length of rope (he was bound, not nailed, to the cross). His inscription from the Apostles' Creed is: 'Et in Jesum Christum, filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum'. All these episodes from the legends are depicted, also the stages of his martyrdom: scourging; led by soldiers to his execution; being tied to the cross; crucifixion; burial, assisted by Maximilla. Author: GRECO, El Title: Apostle St Andrew , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Entombment of Christ late
51,5 x 43 cm Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens This painting is one of the most attractive pictures of El Greco's Venetian period. The artist's barely disguised borrowings from Italian prints (e.g. the three Marys from a print of the Entombment by Parmigianino) are a notable feature of his Cretan- and Italian period pictures and reflect his formation as a painter in the post-Byzantine tradition accustomed to working from established compositional patterns. Author: GRECO, El Title: The Entombment of Christ , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Baptism of Christ
24 x 18 cm Galleria Estense, Modena The Baptism of Christ is the right panel on the front of the Modena Triptych. The Modena Triptych strikingly illustrates El Greco's transition from post-Byzantine icon painter to European artist of the Latin variety. The portable altarpiece, whose unknown patron perhaps stemmed from a Creto-Venetian family, in its open state shows a total of six scenes: on the front, the central panel bears a rare depiction of the Coronation of the Christian Knight, and on the wings we find the Adoration of the Shepherds on the left and the Baptism of Christ on the right. On the reverse, a View of Mount Sinai with its famous convent of St Catherine is flanked by an Annunciation and an Admonition of Adam and Eve by God the Father. This type of object with its gilded frame elements was common in Cretan workshops of the 16th century, as is its use of wood as a painting support. Author: GRECO, El Title: Baptism of Christ , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Annunciation
24 x 18 cm Galleria Estense, Modena Probably soon after his arrival in Venice El Greco painted the Modena Triptych. Here he adapts Renaissance principles of representation to a small-scale triptych of a post-Byzantine design common in the Venetian empire. As the wings of the triptych are opened in succession, the sequence of images reveals the state of Man before the Fall to his restoration to a state of Grace through Christ. The scene of The Annunciation is the left panel on the back of the triptych. The Modena Triptych strikingly illustrates El Greco's transition from post-Byzantine icon painter to European artist of the Latin variety. The portable altarpiece, whose unknown patron perhaps stemmed from a Creto-Venetian family, in its open state shows a total of six scenes: on the front, the central panel bears a rare depiction of the Coronation of the Christian Knight, and on the wings we find the Adoration of the Shepherds on the left and the Baptism of Christ on the right. On the reverse, a View of Mount Sinai with its famous convent of St Catherine is flanked by an Annunciation and an Admonition of Adam and Eve by God the Father. This type of object with its gilded frame elements was common in Cretan workshops of the 16th century, as is its use of wood as a painting support. Author: GRECO, El Title: Annunciation , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Adoration of the Shepherds
114 x 105 cm Private collection In the eighteenth century this painting was attributed to Giovanni Lanfranco, and later to a member of the Bassano family. Since 1951 the authorship of El Greco is universally accepted. However, this picture owes a great deal to the nocturnal paintings of the Bassano. According to the X-radiograph the upper part of the canvas was completely repainted, and the canvas has been cropped at the top. Author: GRECO, El Title: The Adoration of the Shepherds , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
Escutcheon
90 x 130 cm Private collection The sudarium (the cloth with which Veronica wiped Christ's face on the way to Calvary) is shown like a precious object, surrounded by a carved frame that is held by two cherubs or putti. (The cherubs were carved by Juan Bautista Monegro (c. 1545-1621). The ensemble formed part of the elaborate frame of the main altarpiece for the Cistercian convent of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo. Probably this was the last part of the altarpiece El Greco painted. In the painting, El Greco created a hauntingly disembodied likeness, with Christ staring at the viewer in the fashion of a Byzantine icon. Author: GRECO, El Title: Escutcheon with St Veronica's Veil , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Resurrection
210 x 128 cm Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo Painted for the side altar on the Epistle side (right) of the church, and still in place. Probably painted 1578-79, following the completion of the High Altarpiece. The presence of Saint Ildefonso, the patron Saint of Toledo, was stipulated in the documents. Diego de Castilla, the Dean of Toledo Cathedral, is probably represented in this figure, which certainly is a portrait. The figure assists in setting an ideal plane for the enacting of the mystic event. El Greco has eliminated the intrusion of an incongruous space. The ground running parallel with the plane of the action produces no conflict. The rhythm of the passages of colour and light over the surface helps to hold together the composition, with its dramatic split revealing the figure of the Risen Christ. What suggestions remain of an ordinary conception of space, of corporeality and of a schematic quality of composition, disappear in his final version of the subject (painted in 1596-1600, now in the Prado, Madrid). Author: GRECO, El Title: The Resurrection , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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GRECO, El
The Resurrection
210 x 128 cm Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo Painted for the side altar on the Epistle side (right) of the church, and still in place. Probably painted 1578-79, following the completion of the High Altarpiece. The presence of Saint Ildefonso, the patron Saint of Toledo, was stipulated in the documents. Diego de Castilla, the Dean of Toledo Cathedral, is probably represented in this figure, which certainly is a portrait. The figure assists in setting an ideal plane for the enacting of the mystic event. El Greco has eliminated the intrusion of an incongruous space. The ground running parallel with the plane of the action produces no conflict. The rhythm of the passages of colour and light over the surface helps to hold together the composition, with its dramatic split revealing the figure of the Risen Christ. What suggestions remain of an ordinary conception of space, of corporeality and of a schematic quality of composition, disappear in his final version of the subject (painted in 1596-1600, now in the Prado, Madrid). Author: GRECO, El Title: The?Resurrection , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
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Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614
Greek painter, designer and engraver, active in Italy and Spain. One of the most original and interesting painters of 16th-century Europe, he transformed the Byzantine style of his early paintings into another, wholly Western manner. He was active in his native Crete, in Venice and Rome, and, during the second half of his life, in Toledo. He was renowned in his lifetime for his originality and extravagance and provides one of the most curious examples of the oscillations of taste in the evaluation of a painter,
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