3. "El Greco" (The Greek) was a nickname, a
reference to his national Greek origin, and
the artist normally signed his paintings with
his full birth name in Greek letters,
Δομήνικος
Θεοτοκόπουλος
(Doménikos
Theotokópoulos),
often adding the
word Κρής
"Cretan".
4. Early years in Greece
He was born in Candia, Crete, which was at
that time part of the Republic of
Venice, and the center of Post-Byzantine
art.
He trained and
became a master
in Crete before
travelling at age
26 to Venice, as
many other
Greek artists .
6. Venice
About 1566, El Greco Went to Venice where
he remained until 1570.
He was employed in the workshop of Titian
and was also strongly influenced by
Tintoretto both masters of the high
Renaissance.
Early Venetian paintings such as “Christ
healing the blind man” demonstrated his
Assimilation of Tintoretto’s figural
compositions and use of deep spatial
recesses.
8. Christ Healing the Blind Man. 1560s. Oil on panel. Alte Meister Gallerie,
Dresden, Germany
9. Rome
In 1570, El Greco moved to Rome, where
he executed a series of works strongly
marked by his Venetian apprenticeship.
During his stay in
Italy, El Greco
enriched his style
with elements of
Mannerism and of
the Venetian
Renaissance.
Jacopo Tintoretto
10. Two of El Greco’s paintings
included in Orsini’s collection
11. El Greco’s Allegory of the Holy League
said to be heavily influenced by Michelangelo
12. Other paintings by El Greco during his time in Italy
Christ driving the
traders from the
temple - El Greco
El Greco painting of St
John The Evangelist And
St Francis
Italian Annunciation
painting by El Greco
13. Spain
In 1577, El Greco migrated to Madrid, then to
Toledo, where he produced his mature works.
He arrived in Toledo by July 1577, and signed
contracts for a group of paintings that was to
adorn the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo
in Toledo and for the renowned El Espolio.
15. Toledo
By September 1579 he had completed
nine paintings for Santo Domingo,
including The Trinity and The Assumption
of the Virgin
He did manage to secure two important
commissions from the monarch: Allegory
of the Holy League and Martyrdom of St.
Maurice
16. Assumption of the Virgin. 1577-1579.
Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, USA.
17. The end
During the course of the execution of a
commission for the Hospital Tavera , El Greco
fell seriously ill, and a month later, on 7 April
1614, he died.
A few days earlier, on 31 March, he had
directed that his son should have the power to
make his will.
Two Greeks, friends of the painter, witnessed
this last will and , he was buried in the Church
of Santo Domingo el Antiguo , aged 73.
22. El Greco. Mary
Magdalen in
Penitence. c. 1577.
Oil on canvas. Worcester
Art Museum, Worcester,
Massachusetts, USA
His artistic roots are
diverse: he traveled
between Greece, Venice,
Rome, and Spain
(settling in Toledo). The
Christian doctrines of
Spain made a crucial
impact on his approach
to painting, and his art
represents a blend of
passion and restraint,
religious fervor and
Neo-Platonism,
influenced by the
mysticism of the
Counter-Reformation.
23. Baptism of
Christ
1597-1600 Oil
on canvas, 350 x
144 cm; Museo
del Prado,
Madrid
The Holy Trinity
1577 Oil on
canvas, 300 x
179 cm (118 1/8
x 70 1/2");
Museo del
Prado, Madrid
24. The statue of
Laocoön and His
Sons, also called
the Laocoön Group
shows the Trojan
priest Laocoön and
his sons being
strangled by sea
serpents.
25. St.Peter in Tears. c.
1580-1585. Oil on
canvas. The Bowes
Museum, Barnard
Castle, Couty
Durham, UK
The story of Resurrection is told with variation in details in all four Gospels: Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-9; John 20:1-18. Three days after Christ’s Entombment, at the end of Sabbath, the women (St. Mark names Mary of Magdala, Mary, mother of James, and Salome) went to Holy Sepulchre to embalm Christ’s body, wondering on their way how they would be able to roll away the heavy stone in front of the tomb. They found the tomb already open and in front stood a youth clad in white, who told them, that Christ was not in the tomb but was risen. This episode is also called in fine arts Holy Women at the Sepulchre.
He was… “a man of eccentric habits and ideas, of tremendous determination, extraordinary reticence, and extreme devoutness.” He was valued and respected by the intellectuals of Toledo.
