Domenikos Theotokopoulos

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, who later became known as El Greco, one of the most original European artists at the turn of the 16/17th century, was born in 1541 in Candia (now Heraklion) on Crete; he died in 1614 in Toledo in Spain. He took up painting in his youth, training under Greek Orthodox monks. Several of the icons he made have survived on Crete. One of them, The Dormition of the Virgin, is an object of veneration in the church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Syros.

In 1567 El Greco travelled to Venice and trained in Tiziano Vecellio’s workshop. During his stay in the city he became acquainted with all the major works by Venetian artists: Titian, Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto, and painters from the Bassano family whose paintings were later an important source of inspiration for his own compositions. In 1570, El Greco moved to Rome where he had the opportunity to study the paintings of Michelangelo and others, which also had considerable influence of his work.
In 1576 El Greco migrated to Spain and settled in Toledo — a city which, as the seat of the Primate and thus religious capital, fulfilled an exceptionally important role in the life of the Catholic Church in Spain. He remained in Toledo until the end of his life. Almost from the very outset, he executed religious paintings, mainly large format works for local churches. The first paintings he made were The Holy Trinity and The Assumption of the Virgin for the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, followed by the El Expolio (The Disrobing of Christ) for the sacristy of the Cathedral of Toledo. He secured two commissions from King Philip II of Spain: The Adoration of the Name of Jesus and The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice, for the decoration of the Basilica of El Escorial. The subject of the majority of El Greco’s religious compositions reflects the teachings of the Catholic Church which were formulated at the Council of Trent (1545–63). They represent the main tenets of Catholicism. He made a number of paintings including the Virgin Mary, as well as other likenesses of saints: Mary Magdalene, St. Jerome, St. Peter and St. Francis of Assisi, all depicted in fervent prayer or doing penance for their sins, with symbols alluding to the fragility of life (e.g. a skull). The saints were supposed to be models for the faithful, to emulate and to inspire them to reflect on the vanity of earthly pleasures. These likenesses attracted a lot of interest; therefore, many of El Greco’s compositions were repeated in various workshop replicas and in copies and works by the followers of the artist. Themes in accordance with the teachings adopted at the Council of Trent are visible also in one of El Greco’s finest and largest compositions The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586–8, for the Toledan church of Santo Tomé), which commemorates the pious nobleman living at the turn of the 13/14th century.

El Greco was also a talented portraitist—he painted likenesses of Cardinal Niño da Guevara, Hortensia Félixa de Paravicinio, of his son Jorge Manuel, and others. The uniquely charming views of Toledo should also be mentioned. In one of the most famous of these (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) we see the town—situated on a hill with the River Tagus flowing at its foot—lit up by the hot rays of the sun, just before a storm. It was one of the views El Greco could admire from the windows of his home.

As far as El Greco’s style is concerned, his early compositions, which were made in Italy, already contained some of the features which later became very characteristic of his work: bright and intense colours, crowded compositions filled with figures with strangely elongated forms. The artist’s style achieved its most expressive and sophisticated phase in circa 1600. At this time, and in later years, he was commissioned to make paintings for, among others, the Capilla Mayor of the Hospital de la Caridad (Hospital of Charity) at Illescas (including The Annunciation, The Nativity, The Coronation of the Virgin), for the church of Saint Vincent in Toledo (The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, The Visitation) and Laocoön (National Gallery of Art in Washington)—which was inspired by ancient culture and whose exact message today remains a mystery to scholars.