El Greco
ca. 1541–1614
Greek painter in Spain

The artist known as El Greco (Spanish for "the Greek") developed a truly distinctive style of painting that combined methods of Byzantine* and Renaissance Italian art. His vibrant works were filled with turmoil and great religious feeling. The portraits he painted reveal remarkable psychological insight into the character of his subjects.

Born Doménikos Theotokópoulos on the island of Crete, El Greco was the son of a tax collector. He received artistic training in the Byzantine tradition of icon painting, the highly stylized religious art associated with the Greek Orthodox Church. At the time Crete belonged to Venice, and in 1567 El Greco established himself in Venice.

Under the influence of Renaissance Italy, the artist slowly transformed his style of painting. He particularly admired the work of the Venetian masters Titian and Tintoretto. By November 1570 El Greco had moved to Rome, where he continued his study of Renaissance painting. He also became acquainted with a group of humanists* associated with Fulvio Orsini, a great scholar of classical antiquity.

El Greco had trouble finding patrons* in Italy, so he moved to Spain in July 1577 and settled in the city of Toledo. One of the artist's first commissions was for a painting for Toledo's cathedral. In the work, the Disrobing of Christ, he combined a vivid naturalistic* style with idealized forms. Cathedral officials criticized various elements of the picture, but El Greco refused to make the changes they requested.

While in Italy, El Greco had absorbed Renaissance ideas about artistic freedom and mastery of technique. The Spanish audience for which El Greco was working found these ideas unacceptable. In Italy he had become interested in Mannerism, an artistic style popular in the late 1500s. The style, characterized by elongated and twisted figures, strange spatial relationships, and harsh lighting, did not find favor in Spain.

Nonetheless, El Greco was among the artists selected to provide altar-pieces for the royal complex of El Escorial, built by the Spanish king Philip II. El Greco's work, the Martyrdom of St. Maurice and the Theban League, was completed in 1582. However, Philip disliked the painting, perhaps because it introduced new methods of narrative* and composition. Although Philip kept the work, he paid less for it than the artist had requested and ordered a new picture of the same subject from another artist. Thus, El Greco had failed to please two of the most powerful patrons in Spain—the king and the cathedral officials of Toledo.

After the disappointment of El Escorial, El Greco returned to Toledo. By 1585 he had established a workshop that produced copies of his paintings, as well as frames and statues. In 1586 he received an important commission for the chapel of Santo Tomé in Toledo. The monumental painting he created, The Burial of the Count Orgaz, is one of the artist's masterpieces.

Although El Greco rarely painted landscapes, his brooding View of Toledo opened a new chapter in the history of landscape painting by using nature to express emotion. In portraits and religious scenes, El Greco created elongated, otherworldly figures, strong diagonal lines, and abrupt contrasts of tone and color in an effort to rise above earthly matters and express the divine. Many elements of his work seemed perfectly suited to express Spanish religious fervor.

(See alsoArt; Art in Spain and Portugal. )

* Byzantine

referring to the Eastern Christian Empire based in Constantinople (a.d. 476–1453)

* humanist

Renaissance expert in the humanities (the languages, literature, history, and speech and writing techniques of ancient Greece and Rome)

* patron

supporter or financial sponsor of an artist or writer

* naturalistic

realistic, showing the world as it is without idealization

* narrative

storytelling