The difference was that he made these effects deeply expressive and not merely emblems of virtuosity. No other great Western artist moved mentally—as El Greco did—from the flat symbolic world of Byzantine icons to the world-embracing, humanistic vision of Renaissance painting, and then on to a predominantly conceptual kind of art. Those worlds had one thing in common: a respect for Neoplatonic theory about art embodying a higher realm of the spirit.
Christiansen, Keith. Visiting The Met? Citation Christiansen, Keith. Balkan Peninsula, — A. Iberian Peninsula, — A. Rome and Southern Italy, — A. Venice and Northern Italy, — A.
Verbs, structure, expressions Improve your grasp on grammar and vocab! El Greco or 'The Greek' is undoubtedly one of the first names to be mentioned when discussing great Spanish artwork, but it also crops up when the Greeks discuss their own artistic heritage.
This makes the life and works of El Greco somewhat complicated and his place in Spanish art history less than straightforward. Nonetheless, he appears time and again as a pivotal, innovative and important figure and no trip to Spain would be complete without learning about him El Greco was born in Crete in and whilst he spent very little time there, his creative talents were nurtured when he studied at the Cretan School of post-Byzantine art. Despite his obvious ties to his homeland, we know hardly anything about his early life and few of his works from this time have survived the test of time.
On coming of age, the young artist swiftly headed to Italy to learn from the great masters of his time. Venice was the scene of his initial artistic training and set the precedent for his future works. El Greco's friendship with Castilla would secure his first large commissions in Toledo.
He arrived in Toledo by July , 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.
These works would establish the painter's reputation in Toledo. El Greco did not plan to settle permanently in Toledo, since his final aim was to win the favor of Philip and make his mark in his court. Indeed, he did manage to secure two important commissions from the monarch: Allegory of the Holy League and Martyrdom of St. However, the king did not like these works and placed the St Maurice altarpiece in the chapter-house rather than the intended chapel.
He gave no further commissions to El Greco. The exact reasons for the king's dissatisfaction remain unclear. Some scholars have suggested that Philip did not like the inclusion of living persons in a religious scene; some others that El Greco's works violated a basic rule of the Counter-Reformation, namely that in the image the content was paramount rather than the style.
Philip took a close interest in his artistic commissions, and had very decided tastes; a long sought-after sculpted Crucifixion by Benvenuto Cellini also failed to please when it arrived, and was likewise exiled to a less prominent place. Philip's next experiment, with Federigo Zuccaro was even less successful.
In any case, Philip's dissatisfaction ended any hopes of royal patronage El Greco may have had. Lacking the favor of the king, El Greco was obliged to remain in Toledo, where he had been received in as a great painter. According to Hortensio Felix Paravicino, a 17th-century Spanish preacher and poet, "Crete gave him life and the painter's craft, Toledo a better homeland, where through Death he began to achieve eternal life.
On March 12, he obtained the commission for The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, now his best-known work. The decade to was a period of intense activity for El Greco.
During these years he received several major commissions, and his workshop created pictorial and sculptural ensembles for a variety of religious institutions. Among his major commissions of this period were three altars for the Chapel of San Jose in Toledo ; three paintings for the Colegio de Dona Maria de Aragon, an Augustinian monastery in Madrid, and the high altar, four lateral altars, and the painting St.
The minutes of the commission of The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception , which were composed by the personnel of the municipality, describe El Greco as "one of the greatest men in both this kingdom and outside it". Between and El Greco was involved in a protracted legal dispute with the authorities of the Hospital of Charity at Illescas concerning payment for his work, which included painting, sculpture and architecture;i] this and other legal disputes contributed to the economic difficulties he experienced towards the end of his life.
In , he received his last major commission: for the Hospital of Saint John the Baptist in Toledo. El Greco made Toledo his home. Surviving contracts mention him as the tenant from onwards of a complex consisting of three apartments and twenty-four rooms which belonged to the Marquis de Villena. It was in these apartments, which also served as his workshop, that he passed the rest of his life, painting and studying.
The painting depicts the ecstasy of St. Francis, a popular subject in classical art also depicted by Caravaggio in , by Giovanni Bellini in , by Giovanni Baglione in , and various other notorious artists whom were all drawn to the story. It depicts the scene from the legendary life of Saint Francis of Assisi, a 12 th century Italian saint, who two years before his death in , embarked on a journey to Mount La Verna for forty days of fasting and prayer.
One morning as he prayed, he went into a religious ecstasy and received the stigmata the marks of Christ upon his body as he was nailed to the cross by an angel or seraph.
In the painting, El Greco portrays St. Francis in this exact moment with a face full of the emotions of devotion, pain, and surrender. In front of the Saint is a skull, usually associated with the Saint, and a symbol of mortality. El Greco was fascinated with this subject, as it is generally sustained that his workshop possessed over a hundred representations of St. However in this painting, El Greco dispenses his usual light, colorful and bright representations, and creates an overall dark and somber atmosphere to re-create the painful and dramatic experience of the Saint.
Although the painting is also an example of Mannerism, its use of high contrast darkness and light seems reminiscent of another artistic language that can be associated to the dramatic works of Rembrandt in the 17 th Century.
This painting depicts Christ holding one hand on a blue globe, and gesturing to heaven with the other. There is a white light shining either from behind him or from within him, acting as a halo against the black dark background.
It is painted in El Greco's signature fluid style and possesses a profound aesthetic and psychological force, mainly granted by the intense look of Christ's eyes that stare deep into the observer. The vivid bright red color of his robes deeply contrast with the subdued and somber color employed in the rest of the painting.
As is characteristic of his body of work, the elongated fingers and torso, deeply inspired by Tintoretto and Titian, grant the painting a dreamlike quality that is both real and profoundly unworldly, seeming to make Christ belong, physically and metaphorically, to both worlds.
This work reflects a good example of El Greco's mode of combining a more Byzantine iconic tradition with the more humanistic approach of the Renaissance, while still rejecting an exact imitation of reality.
As Art historian Keith Christiansen claims, "El Greco rejected naturalism as a vehicle for his art just as he rejected the idea of an art easily accessible to a large public. What he embraced was the world of a self-consciously, erudite style, or maniera ," deeply associated to Mannerism.
By denying the world around him and moving away from realistic and naturalistic languages, he embodies the realm of the spirit through movement and freedom of form in a symbolic and metaphorical way. In fact, El Greco is known for claiming, "The spirit of creation is an excruciating, intricate exploration from within the soul".
The painting portrays the myth of Laocoon, a Trojan priest who according to legend, warned the locals about the Trojan horse and also profaned the temple of God. As a consequence, giant serpents sent by the angry Gods killed him and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus. In the painting, the three are depicted in the foreground being engulfed by the large serpents.
On the right, one of the sons appears to be already dead as he lies on the ground, whereas Laocoon and his other son fight for their lives. The background features the Trojan horse and the town of Toledo surrounded by trees in intense blues and greens. These vibrant colors of life greatly contrast with the muted grey palette used for the figures that symbolize death. The two figures standing on the far right are presumed to be Apollo and Artemis who observe the unfolding drama.
Art historian Keith Christiansen claims, "No other great Western artist moved mentally - as El Greco did," emphasizing the underlying psychological intention of the work.
In this sense, the main interpretation that can be drawn is derived from the myth itself, that man is powerless and hopeless in the realm of the Divine and must succumb to his inevitable fate.
This work is considered one of the best examples of El Greco's later works, and the only of his known paintings that depicts a mythological theme rather than a religious one. Along with The Vision of Saint John , it is known for having a profound influence on the Expressionist and Cubist movements because of its intense emotional imagery and its vivid accentuation of individual form within the overall composition. This large canvas is considered another one of El Greco's masterpieces.
It depicts a passage in the Bible, Revelation , which describes the opening of the Fifth Seal at the end of time and the distribution of white robes to "those who had been slain for the work of God and for the witness they had borne.
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