1.
El Greco
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Doménikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. El Greco was a nickname, a reference to his Greek origin, El Greco was born in 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 within that tradition before traveling at age 26 to Venice, in 1570 he moved to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works. During his stay in Italy, El Greco enriched his style elements of Mannerism. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death, in Toledo, El Greco received several major commissions and produced his best-known paintings. El Grecos dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries, El Greco has been characterized by modern scholars as an artist so individual that he belongs to no conventional school. He is best known for tortuously elongated figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, El Grecos father, Geórgios Theotokópoulos, was a merchant and tax collector. Nothing is known about his mother or his first wife, also Greek, El Grecos older brother, Manoússos Theotokópoulos, was a wealthy merchant and spent the last years of his life in El Grecos Toledo home. El Greco received his training as an icon painter of the Cretan school. In 1563, at the age of twenty-two, El Greco was described in a document as a master, meaning he was already a master of the guild and presumably operating his own workshop. Three years later, in June 1566, as a witness to a contract, most scholars believe that the Theotokópoulos family was almost certainly Greek Orthodox, although some Catholic sources still claim him from birth. One of his uncles was an Orthodox priest, and his name is not mentioned in the Catholic archival baptismal records on Crete, prevelakis goes even further, expressing his doubt that El Greco was ever a practicing Roman Catholic. Important for his biography, El Greco, still in Crete, painted his Dormition of the Virgin near the end of his Cretan period. Three other signed works of Doménicos are attributed to El Greco, in 1563, at the age of twenty-two, El Greco was already an enrolled master of the local guild, presumably in charge of his own workshop. He left for Venice a few later, and never returned to Crete. His Dormition of the Virgin, of before 1567 in tempera, the painting combines post-Byzantine and Italian Mannerist stylistic and iconographic elements, and incorporates stylistic elements of the Cretan School. It was natural for the young El Greco to pursue his career in Venice, though the exact year is not clear, most scholars agree that El Greco went to Venice around 1567. Knowledge of El Grecos years in Italy is limited and this may mean he worked in Titians large studio, or not
2.
Museum of El Greco
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The Museum of El Greco is located on the edge of the village of Fodele in Crete, west of the city of Heraklion. It celebrates the mannerist painter El Greco, who grew up in the village, the museum is located around 1km from the centre of Fodele opposite a chapel and contains copies of works by and documents associated with El Greco. The original building was in a state but was restored from 1982 onwards through a grant by the Greek Ministry of Culture. The museum opened to the public in 1998, the village of Fodele is claimed as the birthplace of El Greco, but this is disputed. The museum claims to be where El Greco was born, the Historical Museum of Crete in Heraklion not far away includes two original works by El Greco, the only original works by the artist in Crete. El Greco Museum, Toledo, Spain Museum website
3.
Toledo, Spain
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Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, it is the capital of the province of Toledo and the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its cultural and monumental heritage and historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim. Toledo has a history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now popular souvenirs of the city, people who were born or have lived in Toledo include Brunhilda of Austrasia, Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo, Alfonso X and El Greco. It was also the place of important historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo, as of 2015, the city has a population of 83,226 and an area of 232.1 km2. The town was granted arms in the 16th century, which by special royal privilege was based on the royal of arms of Spain, Toledo is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy as urbs parva, sed loco munita. At that time, Toletum was a city of the Carpetani tribe and it was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a civitas stipendiaria, that is, a tributary city of non-citizens. It later achieved the status of municipium by Flavian times, with this status, city officials, even of Carpetani origin, obtained Roman citizenship for public service, and the forms of Roman law and politics were increasingly adopted. At approximately this time were constructed in Toletum a Roman circus, city walls, public baths, and a municipal water supply and storage system. The Roman circus in Toledo was one of the largest in Hispania, at 423 metres long and 100 metres wide, chariot races were held on special holidays and were also commissioned by private citizens to celebrate career achievements. A fragmentary stone inscription records circus games paid for by a citizen of unknown name to celebrate his achieving the sevirate, archaeologists have also identified portions of a special seat of the sort used by the city elites to attend circus games, called a sella curulis. The circus could hold up to 15000 spectators, during Roman times, Toledo was never a provincial capital nor a conventus iuridicus. It started to gain importance in late antiquity, there are indications that large private houses within the city walls were enlarged, while several large villas were built north of the city through the third and fourth centuries. Games were held in the circus into the fourth and early fifth centuries C. E. also an indication of active city life. A church council was held in Toledo in the year 400 to discuss the conflict with Priscillianism, a second council of Toledo was held in 527. The Visigothic king Theudis was in Toledo in 546, where he promulgated a law and this is strong though not certain evidence that Toledo was the chief residence for Theudis. King Athanagild died in Toledo, probably in 568 and this changed with Liuvigild, who brought the peninsula under his control. The Visigoths ruled from Toledo until the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula in the years of 8th century. Today the historic center is pierced of basements, passages, wells, baths, a series of church councils was held in Toledo under the Visigoths
4.
Mary, mother of Jesus
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Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary
5.
Ildefonsus
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Saint Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus was a scholar and theologian who served as the metropolitan bishop of Toledo for the last decade of his life. Although his writings were less influential outside of Hispania, Ildefonsus was canonised and remained a potent force in the peninsula for centuries, Spanish and Portuguese missionaries spread his cult worldwide. Ildefonsus was born to a prominent Visigothic family in Toledo during the reign of Witteric, civil wars racked the Visigothic kingdom during most of Ildefonsus life. His uncle Eugenius, who later became Toledos bishop, began educating the devout youth, Ildefonsus began his religious career circa 632 when Bishop Eladius of Toledo ordained him as a deacon. However, Ildefonse defied his familys plans for his career by becoming a monk at the Agali monastery outside the city. While he was still a monk, he founded and endowed a monastery of nuns. In 650 Ildefonsus was elected its abbot of Agali, in that capacity, Ildefonsus attended two synods of the Iberian church, the 8th and 9th Councils of Toledo. When his uncle Bishop Eugenius II died in 657, Ildefonsus was elected his successor as bishop of Toledo, king Recceswinth compelled him to accept the position, as Ildefonsus later complained to his protege and successor, Bishop Quiricus of Barcelona. At the end of the eighth century Cixila, Archbishop of Toledo and he relates that Ildephonsus was one day praying before the relics of Saint Leocadia, when the martyr arose from her tomb and thanked the saint for the devotion he showed towards the Mother of God. It was related, further, that on occasion he reportedly experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin on 18 December 665. Appeared to him in person and presented him with a priestly vestment, as Bishop Ildefonsus and the congregation sang Marian hymns, light engulfed the church, which caused most worshippers to flee. The bishop, however, remained with a few deacons and they saw Mary descend and sit on the episcopal throne. She praised Ildefonsus for his devotion and vested him with a special chasuble from her sons treasury, in part because of the vision, Rome later elevated Toledos status to the metropolitan see of Carthaginiensis, with the most authority in the Iberian Peninsula. Ildefonsus died after a decade in office and was buried at his basilica, even during the Muslim occupation, when the basilica was converted into a mosque, the area where the vision occurred remained sacred and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Pilgrims travelled to Toledo to see the stone where Mary stepped during Ildefonsus vision, during later wars, the saints remains were translated to Zamora, where they remain at the Church of Sts. Quiricus, the dedicatee of Ildefonsus De perpetua virginitate, succeeded Ildefonsus and his later successor, Julian, included Ildefonsus among the biographies added in his own continuation to the De viris illustribus. Another successor, Cixila, wrote a life of Ildefonsus. During the 13th century, the Dominican Rodrigo de Cerrato included Ildefonsus among his vignettes of illustrious men, Ildefonsus is considered a patron saint of Toledo, as well as of Zamora, and several smaller towns
6.
Impressionism
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Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The Impressionists faced harsh opposition from the art community in France. The development of Impressionism in the arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that became known as impressionist music. Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting and they constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as Eugène Delacroix and J. M. W. Turner. They also painted scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes were painted in a studio. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air, the Impressionists, however, developed new techniques specific to the style. The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressionists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if the art critics and art establishment disapproved of the new style. In the middle of the 19th century—a time of change, as Emperor Napoleon III rebuilt Paris, the Académie was the preserver of traditional French painting standards of content and style. Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits were valued, landscape, the Académie preferred carefully finished images that looked realistic when examined closely. Paintings in this style were made up of brush strokes carefully blended to hide the artists hand in the work. Colour was restrained and often toned down further by the application of a golden varnish, the Académie had an annual, juried art show, the Salon de Paris, and artists whose work was displayed in the show won prizes, garnered commissions, and enhanced their prestige. The standards of the juries represented the values of the Académie, represented by the works of artists as Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the early 1860s, four young painters—Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and they discovered that they shared an interest in painting landscape and contemporary life rather than historical or mythological scenes. A favourite meeting place for the artists was the Café Guerbois on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, where the discussions were led by Édouard Manet. They were soon joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, during the 1860s, the Salon jury routinely rejected about half of the works submitted by Monet and his friends in favour of works by artists faithful to the approved style. In 1863, the Salon jury rejected Manets The Luncheon on the Grass primarily because it depicted a woman with two clothed men at a picnic. While the Salon jury routinely accepted nudes in historical and allegorical paintings, the jurys severely worded rejection of Manets painting appalled his admirers, and the unusually large number of rejected works that year perturbed many French artists
7.
El Greco Museum, Toledo
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The El Greco Museum is located in Toledo, Spain. It celebrates the mannerist painter El Greco, who spent much of his life in Toledo, having been born in Fodele, the museum opened in 1911 and is located in the Jewish Quarter of Toledo. It consists of two buildings, a 16th-century house with a courtyard and an early 20th century building forming the museum, the house recreates the home of El Greco, which no longer exists. The museum houses many artworks by El Greco, especially from his late period, there are also paintings by other 17th-century Spanish artists, as well as furniture from the period and pottery from Talavera de la Reina in the Province of Toledo. Museum of El Greco, Fodele, Crete Museum website Photos and history in Maravillas Ocultas de España
8.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
9.
Art of El Greco
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El Greco was a prominent painter, sculptor and architect active during the Spanish Renaissance. He developed into an artist so unique that he belongs to no conventional school and his dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but gained new found appreciation in the 20th century. He is best known for tortuously elongated bodies and chests on the figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, the painter was deemed incomprehensible and had no important followers Only his son and a few unknown painters produced weak copies of El Grecos works. Later 17th- and early 18th-century Spanish commentators praised his skill but criticized his anti-naturalistic style, some of these commentators, such as Antonio Palomino and Céan Bermúdez described his mature work as contemptible, ridiculous and worthy of scorn. The views of Palomino and Bermúdez were frequently repeated in Spanish historiography, adorned with terms such as strange, queer, original, eccentric, the phrase sunk in eccentricity, often encountered in such texts, in time became his madness. With the arrival of Romantic sentiments, El Grecos works were examined anew, to French writer Théophile Gautier, El Greco was the precursor of the European Romantic movement in all its craving for the strange and the extreme. French Romantic writers praised his work for the extravagance and madness which had disturbed 18th century commentators. During the operation of the Spanish Museum in Paris, El Greco was admired as the romantic hero. The myth of El Grecos madness came in two versions, on the one hand, Théophile Gautier, a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist and literary critic, believed that El Greco went mad from excessive artistic sensitivity. The critic Zacharie Astruc and the scholar Paul Lefort helped to promote a revival of interest in his painting. In the 1890s, Spanish painters then living in Paris adopted him as their guide, in 1908, art historian Manuel Bartolomé Cossío, who regarded El Grecos style as a response to Spanish mystics, published the first comprehensive catalogue of El Grecos works. In this book, El Greco is described as the founder of the Spanish School, in El Grecos work, Meier-Graefe found foreshadowings of modernity. To the Der Blaue Reiter group in Munich in 1912, El Greco typified that mystical inner construction that it was the task of their generation to rediscover. Fry described El Greco as an old master who is not merely modern, at the same period, some other researchers developed certain disputed theories. This theory enjoyed surprising popularity during the years of the twentieth century and was opposed by the German psychologist David Kuntz. Whether or not El Greco had progressive astigmatism is still open to debate and his elongations were an artistic expression, not a visual symptom. According to Professor of Spanish John Armstrong Crow, astigmatism could never give quality to a canvas, El Grecos re-evaluation was not limited to just scholarship. His expressiveness and colors influenced Eugène Delacroix and Édouard Manet, the first painter who appears to have noticed the structural code in the morphology of the mature El Greco was Paul Cézanne, one of the forerunners of cubism
10.
Posthumous fame of El Greco
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El Greco was deemed incomprehensible and had no important followers. Only his son and a few unknown painters produced weak copies of his works, late 17th- and early 18th-century Spanish commentators praised his skill but criticized his antinaturalistic style and his complex iconography. Some of these commentators, such as Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco and Ceán Bermúdez described his work as contemptible, ridiculous. The views of Palomino and Bermúdez were frequently repeated in Spanish historiography, adorned with terms such as strange, queer, original, eccentric, the phrase sunk in eccentricity, often encountered in such texts, in time developed into madness. In 1838 the Spanish Museum of king Louis-Philippe was inaugurated at the Louvre on January 7,1838, in 1835 Louis-Philippe had sent Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor to Spain, in order to purchase, on his account, a representative group of works from the Spanish School. Taylor enriched the collection with nine paintings by El Greco, four with religious motifs, four portraits. Among 450 paintings by 85 Spanish painters, the French public was able to see works of El Greco for the first time. During this period the idea that El Greco represents the beginning of the Spanish School was formulated for the first time in an allusive manner. The ruling ideology if the founders of the museum placed El Greco at the beginning of the Spanish School, in 1838 the A of Spanish painting was already El Greco while the Z was Goya. Nevertheless, Murillo, Velázquez, Ribera, Cano and Zurbarán were the painters to whom critics, artists, only a small élite preferred El Greco and Goya. With the arrival of Romantic sentiments, El Grecos works were examined anew, Gautier would esteem and admire the later technique of El Greco, connecting him to art contemporary with himself, The best works of his second period resemble the romantic paintings of a great deal. The critic Zacharie Astruc and the scholar Paul Lefort helped to promote a revival of interest in his painting. It was precisely then that the myth of El Grecos madness came into being, the myth of El Grecos madness came in two versions. On the one hand, Théophile Gautier believed that El Greco went mad from excessive artistic sensitivity, the critics of Courrier Français and La Presse would retain the image of El Greco as a mad painter. His maddest paintings were not admired but considered to be historical documents proving his madness, in 1867, Paul Lefort, an expert on Spanish painting, dedicated an eight-page article to El Greco with engravings of four works. In this article, Lefort extols El Greco, refuting the all-powerful commonplace of his madness, in the 1890s, Spanish painters living in Paris adopted him as their guide and mentor. During this period, however, El Greco continued to still be a matter for the happy few, Lefort was opposed to distinguished critics such as Charles Blanc and Louis Viardot, whose hostile comments on El Greco were a powerful commonplace. Therefore, Lefort wrote an article recommending the repossession of El Greco by the historians, a pure righteous conscience stood on one tray of the balance, an empire on the other, and it was you, mans conscience, that tipped the scales
11.
Dormition of the Virgin (El Greco)
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El Greco painted his Dormition of the Virgin near the end of his Cretan period, probably before 1567. El Grecos signature on the base of the central candelabrum was discovered in 1983, the discovery of the Dormition led to the attribution of three other signed works of Doménicos to El Greco and then to the acceptance as authentic of more works, signed or not. This discovery constituted a significant advance in the understanding of El Grecos formation, the painting combines post-Byzantine and Italian mannerist stylistic and iconographic elements. The icon, which retains its function as an object of veneration in the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Syros, was brought to the island during the Greek War of Independence. The icon conforms closely to the pattern for this subject. Nevertheless, it has lost some elements of the traditional Byzantine austerity, the composition of the Burial of the Count of Orgaz has been closely related to the Byzantine iconography of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Marina Lambraki-Plaka believes that such a connection exists, Cretan School The Dormition of the Virgin at the Web Gallery of Art
12.
The Disrobing of Christ
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In late 2013 it was on temporary display at the Prado in Madrid, following a period of cleaning and conservation work there, it was returned to Toledo in 2014. It is one of El Grecos most famous works, a document dated July 2,1577 which refers to this painting is the earliest record of El Grecos presence in Spain. The commission for the painting was secured thanks to El Grecos friendship from Rome with Luis, the son of Diego de Castilla, the dean of the Cathedral of Toledo. De Castilla senior also arranged El Grecos other major commission, on which he worked simultaneously, the painting shows Christ looking up to Heaven with an expression of serenity, his idealized figure seems segregated from the other people and the violence surrounding him. A figure dressed in black in the points at Christ accusingly. A man in green to Christs left holds him firmly with a rope and is about to rip off his robe in preparation for his crucifixion. At the lower right, a man in yellow bends over the cross, Christ is clad in a bright red robe, it is on this red tunic that El Greco concentrated the full expressive force of his art. The purple garment is spread out in a fold, only the chromatic couple of yellow and blue in the foreground raises a separate note which approaches, in power. In the left foreground, the three Marys contemplate the scene with distress and their presence was objected to by the Cathedral authorities, since they are not mentioned as present at this point in the Gospels. Greco probably took this detail, with others like the rope around Christs wrists. The placement of the higher than the head of Christ also was cited by the commissioners of the Cathedral in the arbitration process over the price. In designing the composition vertically and compactly in the foreground El Greco seems to have motivated by the desire to show the oppression of Christ by his cruel tormentors. The figure of Christ, robust, tall and tranquil, dominates the center of the composition which is built vertically like a wall, El Greco chose a method of space elimination that is common to middle and late 16th-century Mannerists. According to Wethey, El Greco probably recalled late Byzantine paintings in which the superposition of heads row upon row is employed to suggest a crowd, harold Wethey regards the painting as a masterpiece of extraordinary originality. The powerful effect of the painting especially depends upon his original, something of the effect of the grand images of the Saviour in Byzantine art is recalled, by this date the disrobing was a rare subject in Western art. This is, however, the last time there are any hints of specific borrowings. He was also supposed to remove some of the figures objected to, despite the complaints of the commissioners of the Cathedral it had a huge success, currently, more than 17 versions of the painting are known. Two greatly reduced versions are generally accepted as from the hand of El Greco himself, possibly one may have been an oil sketch study, or, more likely, other replica versions may also be in whole or part by the master himself
13.
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
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The Burial of the Count of Orgaz is a painting by El Greco, a Greek painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Widely considered among his finest works, it illustrates a popular legend of his time. An exceptionally large painting, it is clearly divided into two sections, heavenly above and terrestrial below, but it gives little impression of duality. The upper and lower sections are brought together compositionally, the theme of the painting is inspired from a legend of the beginning of the 14th century. In 1312, a certain Don Gonzalo Ruíz, native of Toledo, the Count of Orgaz was a pious man who, among other charitable acts, left a sum of money for the enlargement and adornment of the church of Santo Tomé. He was also a philanthropist and a right-thinking Knight, the painting was commissioned by Andrés Núñez, the parish priest of Santo Tomé, for the side-chapel of the Virgin of the church of Santo Tomé, and was executed by El Greco between 1586–1588. Núñez, who had initiated a project to refurbish the Counts burial chapel, is portrayed in the painting reading, already in 1588, people were flocking to Orgaz to see the painting. This immediate popular reception depended, however, on the portrayal of the notable men of Toledo of the time. It was the custom for the eminent and noble men of the town to assist the burial of the noble-born, and it was stipulated in the contract that the scene should be represented in this manner. El Greco would pay homage to the aristocracy of the spirit, the clergy, the jurists, the poets and the scholars, who honored him and his art with their esteem, by immortalizing them in the painting. The Burial of the Count of Orgaz has been admired not only for its art, indeed, this painting is sufficient to rank El Greco among the few great portrait painters. The upper and lower zones are brought together compositionally, the scene of the miracle is depicted in the lower part of the composition, in the terrestrial section. In the upper part, the one, the clouds have parted to receive this just man in Paradise. Christ clad in white and in glory, is the point of the triangle formed by the figures of the Madonna. These three central figures of heavenly glory are surrounded by apostles, martyrs, Biblical kings and the just. The young boy at the left is El Grecos son, Jorge Manuel, on a handkerchief in his pocket is inscribed the artists signature and the date 1578, the year of the boys birth. The artist himself can be recognised directly above the hand of one of the mourners immediately above the head of Saint Stephen. The men in contemporary 16th-century dress who attend the funeral are unmistakably prominent members of Toledan society, the painting has a chromatic harmony that is incredibly rich, expressive and radiant
14.
View of Toledo
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View of Toledo, is one of the two surviving landscapes painted by El Greco. The other, View and Plan of Toledo lies at Museo Del Greco, Toledo, View of Toledo is among the best known depictions of the sky in Western art, along with Vincent van Goghs The Starry Night and the landscapes of William Turner and Monet, among others. Most notable is the color contrast between the dark and somber skies above and the glowing green hills below. While influenced by the Mannerist style, El Grecos expressive handling of color, in this painting, he takes liberties with the actual layout of Toledo insofar as certain building locations are re-arranged. However, the location of the Castle of San Servando, on the right, is accurately depicted, El Grecos signature appears in the lower-right corner. Landscape paintings were rare among Spanish paintings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the Council of Trents ban against landscape painting lends credence to the idea that this work may stand as the first Spanish landscape painting of its time. It is thought that this paintings enigmatic symbolism could be related to the mysticism that infused the city during the period, metropolitan Museum of Art – View of Toledo Essay on this painting from the book Beauty and Terror by Brian A. Oard Painting of El Greco
15.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco)
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Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a painting by the Cretan-Spanish artist El Greco. The work was completed between 1590 and 1600 and it is currently on display at the Museu Nacional dArt de Catalunya, who purchased the work in 1932. El Greco completed Saint Peter and Saint Paul between 1590 and 1600, while living in Toledo, Spain, the painting depicts saints Peter and Paul, two of the Apostles of Jesus. According to the guide of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, the painting is “enriched by modern use of colour, the placement of the hands of the saint, crossed without actually touching, symbolizes a possible disagreement between the two. The older Peter, on left, is gesturing towards Paul, doménikos Theotokópoulos was born around 1541 in what is modern day Heraklion, Crete. The nickname El Greco is Italian and means “The Greek”, reflecting his citizenship, in the 1560s, El Greco moved to Venice, where he studied painting under Titian and learned the techniques of Renaissance painting. El Greco moved in 1577 to Toledo, Spain, where he completed many of the attributed to him. El Greco died in Toledo in April 1614, today, El Greco is seen as a major influence for Cubism and Expressionism, as well as artists such as Picasso and Cézanne. The figure on the left in El Greco’s Saint Peter and Saint Paul can be identified as Saint Peter, in the Bible, Peter is one of the first disciples that Jesus calls upon. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus said to Peter, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, El Greco included the keys of heaven in this painting, as seen in the left hand of Peter. On the right of the painting is Saint Paul, Paul was one of the major contributors to the Bible, as well the founder of many Christian churches. Paul was born Jewish and lived under these beliefs until he was visited, on the street, by the resurrected Jesus, in El Greco’s painting, Paul is depicted holding a sword, a symbol of his martyrdom for his Christian beliefs. The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya purchased El Greco’s Saint Paul, the painting was part of a large collection the museum purchased from Lluis Plandiura, a Catalan politician. The art collection of Plandiura was one of the most important in Spain at the time and contain almost 2000 works, including paintings, sculpture, and archaeological pieces
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Opening of the Fifth Seal
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The Opening of the Fifth Seal was painted in the last years of El Grecos life for a side-altar of the church of Saint John the Baptist outside the walls of Toledo. Before 1908 El Grecos painting was referred to as Profane Love, Cossio had doubts about the title and suggested the Opening of the Fifth Seal. The Metropolitan Museum, where the painting is kept, comments, the very subject is taken from the Book of Revelation, where the souls of persecuted martyrs cry out to God for justice upon their persecutors on Earth. The ecstatic figure of St. John dominates the canvas, while behind him naked souls writhe in a storm of emotion as they receive white robes of salvation. The upper portion of the canvas appears to have been cut down. This lost upper portion may have resembled that of another altarpiece, the Concert of Angels, painted by El Greco for the same church, many believed that the bottom section, which has been preserved, depicted profane love, while the missing upper part depicted divine love. In the 19th century, the painting was owned by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, dissatisfied with the poor condition of the work, he had it restored around 1880. The restorers actually trimmed it by at least 175 centimetres, leaving John the Evangelist emphatically pointing nowhere and it was this strange quirk in composition that perhaps intrigued modern viewers the most and contributed to the paintings fame in modernist circles. After Cánovas death in 1897, the painting was sold for 1,000 pesetas to Ignacio Zuloaga, the painting may be seen in the background of his work Mis amigos, representing several notable members of the Generation of 98. Zuloaga is known to have demonstrated the painting to Pablo Picasso and he declared it as possessing a visionary power that made it a precursor of modernism. In 1956, the Zuloaga Museum sold this artwork to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, when Picasso was working on Les Demoiselles dAvignon, he visited his friend Zuloaga in his studio in Paris and studied El Grecos Opening of the Fifth Seal. Art historian Ron Johnson was the first to focus on the relationship between the two paintings, efi Foundoulaki insists on the activity of the triangle Picasso-Cézanne-El Greco, which is established in Les Demoiselles dAvignon. Richardson, however, conjectures that Picasso knew the interpretation by Cossio concerning the Opening of the Fifth Seal, Richardson and Foundoulaki emphasize on the morphological parallels between the Opening of the Fifth Seal and Les Demoiselles dAvignon, and explore the Picasso-Cézanne-El Greco relationship. According to Foundoulaki, the dialogue Picasso inaugurated with El Greco in Les Demoiselles dAvignon, Richardson sees the Apocalypse in El Grecos Opening of the Fifth Seal as the catalyst which showed Picasso how to harness the spiritual energy of a great religious artist to his own demonic ends. According to Richardson, Picasso followed this apocalyptic vision his whole life
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The Adoration of the Shepherds (El Greco)
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The Adoration of the Shepherds is a painting of the traditional subject which was painted during the last year of El Grecos life. The painting is a work which the artist made to hang over his own tomb in the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo, El Grecos signature, in Greek, may be seen in the lower left corner. A rhythmic energy animates the painting, expressed in the motions of the figures. Striking contrasts between light and dark passages heighten the sense of drama, the group of angels which hovers over the scene may resemble the missing section of The Opening of the Fifth Seal
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Cleansing of the Temple
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The cleansing of the Temple narrative tells of Jesus expelling the merchants and the money changers from the Temple, and occurs in all four canonical gospels of the New Testament. In the Gospel of John Jesus refers to the Temple as my Fathers house, thus, the narrative occurs near the end of the Synoptic Gospels and near the start in the Gospel of John. Some scholars believe that these refer to two incidents, given that the Gospel of John also includes more than one Passover. Jerusalem was packed with Jews who had come for Passover, perhaps numbering 300,000 to 400,000 pilgrims, and making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away, do not make my Fathers house a house of trade. In Mark 12,40 and Luke 20,47 Jesus accused the Temple authorities of thieving, dove sellers were selling doves that were sacrificed by the poor who could not afford grander sacrifices and specifically by women. According to Mark 11,16, Jesus then put an embargo on people carrying any merchandise through the Temple—a sanction that would have disrupted all commerce and this occurred in the outermost court of the gentiles. Matthew 21, 14–16 says the Temple leaders questioned Jesus if he was aware the children were shouting Hosanna to the Son of David, Jesus responded by saying from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise. Claims about the Temple cleansing episode in the Gospel of John can be combined with historical sources to obtain an estimate of when it occurred. Temple expansion and reconstruction was ongoing, and it was in constant reconstruction until it was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. Given that it had taken 46 years of construction to that point and it is possible that the complex was only a few years completed when the future Emperor Titus destroyed the Temple in 70 AD. David Landry suggests that the importance of the episode is signaled by the fact that within a week of this incident, matthew, Mark, and Luke agree that this is the event that functioned as the trigger for Jesus death. The Gospel of Mark uses the phrase, Then he taught them, as Jesus references the prophet Jeremiah. Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves, I too see what is being done, says the Lord. As with other parts of Jesuss story, there are a number of later embellishments to the narrative of the incident that are regarded as legendary or polemical by scholars. Yeshu was likewise accused of robbing the shem hamphoras, the name of god’ from the Holy of Holies. The cleansing of the Temple is a commonly depicted event in the Life of Christ, an Introduction to the New Testament, Doubleday ISBN 0-385-24767-2 Brown, Raymond E. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall ISBN 0-13-614934-0 Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, A political reading of Marks story of Jesus, Orbis ISBN 0-88344-620-0 Miller, the Complete Gospels, Polebridge Press, ISBN 0-06-065587-9 Media related to Cleansing of the Temple at Wikimedia Commons
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Modena Triptych
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The Modena Triptych is 1568 triptych by the artist El Greco, who was also known as Doménikos Theotokópoulos. This portable altarpiece is painted on both sides and has an Italian Renaissance frame, the front depicts the Adoration of the Shepherds, a Christian Knight, and the Baptism of Jesus. The back panels show the Annunciation to Mary, Mount Sinai, the back panel shows pilgrims on the way to the Saint Catherines Monastery in Egypt as if on their way to Heaven
