El Greco (Domenicos

Theotokopoulos), 1541-1614

Self Portrait

EL GRECOPASSIONATE VISIONARYOne of he greatest Spanish painters“ but was Greek by birth

El Greco" Castilian for "The Greek“ .

Almost nothing known about his early life.

Spent most of his life in the Toledo area of Spain –

extremely pious, cultured man, his very intense, spiritual works are famed for their tortuously elongated figures.

Christ Healing the Blind Man. 1560s. Oil on panel. Alte Meister Gallerie, Dresden, Germany

El Greco. Annunciation. Before 1570. Tempera on panel. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

elongated figures, ever straining upward, intense and unusual colors, Passionate and energetic.

El Greco. Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple. c.1570. Oil on panel. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.

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 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.

View of Toledo c. 1597 (180 Kb); Oil on canvas, 121.3 x 108.6 cm (47 3/4 x 42 3/4 in); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Adoration of the Shepherds 1612-14 (230 Kb); Oil on canvas, 319 x 180 cm (125 5/8 x 70 7/8"); Museo del Prado, Madrid

Portrait of a Cardinal c. 1600 (160 Kb); Oil on canvas, 180.8 x 108 cm (67 1/4 x 42 1/2 in); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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

Laocoon 1610

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.

The opening of the Fifth Seal of the Apocalypse c. 1608-14 Oil on canvas, 224.5 x 192.8 cm (88 1/2 x 76 in); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Assumption of the Virgin. 1577-1579. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

St.Peter in Tears. c. 1580-1585. Oil on canvas. The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Couty Durham, UK

The tears of St. Peter1603-1607Oil on canvas102 x 84 cmHospital de San Juan Bautista de Afuera, Toledo

The Martyrdom of St. Maurice. 1580s. Oil on canvas. Art Museum, Bucharest, Romania

The Resurrection. 1584-1594. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Christ Carrying the Cross. c. 1590-1595. Oil on canvas. Oscar B. Cintas Foundation, NY, USA

The Agony in the Garden. c.1595. Oil on canvas. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, USA

The Agony in the Garden. 1605-1610. Oil on canvas. Szepmuveseti Muzeum, Budapest, Hungary

Christ on the Cross with Landscapes. c. 1605-1610. Oil on canvas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA

El Greco - Self Portrait as Saint Luke c1604 (one of the Portraits of the Apostles in the Sacristy of Toledo Cathedral)

El Greco was buried in the Church of St. Thomé.

The Burial of Count Orgaz. c.1586. Oil on canvas. Church of San Tomé, Toledo, Spain