El Greco was a prominent painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. He developed into an artist so unique that he belongs to no conventional school. 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 figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, marrying Byzantine traditions with those of Western civilization. Of El Greco, Hortensio F?lix Paravicino, a seventeenth 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." According to author Liisa Berg, Paravacino revealed in a few words two main factors that define when a great artist gains the appraisal he deserves: no one is a prophet in his homeland and often it is in retrospect that one's work gains its true appreciation and value.
El Greco was disdained by the immediate generations after his death because his work was opposed in many respects to the principles of the early baroque style which came to the fore near the beginning of the 17th century and soon supplanted the last surviving traits of the 16th century Mannerism. The painter was deemed incomprehensible and had no important followers Only his son and a few unknown painters produced weak copies of El Greco's works. Later 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 C?an Berm?dez described his mature work as "contemptible", "ridiculous" and "worthy of scorn". The views of Palomino and Berm?dez were frequently repeated in Spanish historiography, adorned with terms such as "strange", "queer", "original", "eccentric" and "odd". The phrase "sunk in eccentricity", often encountered in such texts, in time became his "madness".
El Greco in his lifetime was highly esteemed as an architect and sculptor. He usually designed complete altar compositions, working as architect and sculptor as well as painter, for instance at the Hospital de la Caridad. There he decorated the chapel of the hospital, but the wooden altar and the sculptures he executed have in all probability perished. For Espolio the master designed the original altar of gilded wood which has been destroyed, but his small sculptured group of the Miracle of St. Ildefonso still survives on the lower centre of the frame.
His most important architectural achievement was the church and Monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, for which he also executed sculptures and paintings. El Greco is regarded as a painter who incorporated architecture in his painting. He is also credited with the architectural frames to his own paintings in Toledo. Pacheco characterized him as "a writer of painting, sculpture and architecture".
The Opening of the Fifth Seal (1608-1614, oil, 225 x 193 cm., on loan from: New York, Metropolitan Museum) has been suggested to be the prime source of inspiration for Picasso's Les Demoiselles d' Avignon.
The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio) (1577-79, oil on canvas, 285 x 173 cm, Sacristy of the Cathedral, Toledo) is one of the most famous altarpieces of El Greco. El Greco's altarpieces are renowned for their dynamic compositions and startling innovations.
The Holy Trinity (1577-1579, 300 x 178 cm, oil on canvas, on loan from: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain) was part of a group of works created for the church "Santo Domingo el Antiguo".
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Greco_Trinity.jpg
Opening the Seal
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/ElGrecoOpeningseal.jpg
He is best known for tortuously elongated figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, marrying Byzantine traditions with those of Western civilization. Of El Greco, Hortensio F?lix Paravicino, a seventeenth 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." According to author Liisa Berg, Paravacino revealed in a few words two main factors that define when a great artist gains the appraisal he deserves: no one is a prophet in his homeland and often it is in retrospect that one's work gains its true appreciation and value.
El Greco was disdained by the immediate generations after his death because his work was opposed in many respects to the principles of the early baroque style which came to the fore near the beginning of the 17th century and soon supplanted the last surviving traits of the 16th century Mannerism. The painter was deemed incomprehensible and had no important followers Only his son and a few unknown painters produced weak copies of El Greco's works. Later 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 C?an Berm?dez described his mature work as "contemptible", "ridiculous" and "worthy of scorn". The views of Palomino and Berm?dez were frequently repeated in Spanish historiography, adorned with terms such as "strange", "queer", "original", "eccentric" and "odd". The phrase "sunk in eccentricity", often encountered in such texts, in time became his "madness".
El Greco in his lifetime was highly esteemed as an architect and sculptor. He usually designed complete altar compositions, working as architect and sculptor as well as painter, for instance at the Hospital de la Caridad. There he decorated the chapel of the hospital, but the wooden altar and the sculptures he executed have in all probability perished. For Espolio the master designed the original altar of gilded wood which has been destroyed, but his small sculptured group of the Miracle of St. Ildefonso still survives on the lower centre of the frame.
His most important architectural achievement was the church and Monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, for which he also executed sculptures and paintings. El Greco is regarded as a painter who incorporated architecture in his painting. He is also credited with the architectural frames to his own paintings in Toledo. Pacheco characterized him as "a writer of painting, sculpture and architecture".
The Opening of the Fifth Seal (1608-1614, oil, 225 x 193 cm., on loan from: New York, Metropolitan Museum) has been suggested to be the prime source of inspiration for Picasso's Les Demoiselles d' Avignon.
The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio) (1577-79, oil on canvas, 285 x 173 cm, Sacristy of the Cathedral, Toledo) is one of the most famous altarpieces of El Greco. El Greco's altarpieces are renowned for their dynamic compositions and startling innovations.
The Holy Trinity (1577-1579, 300 x 178 cm, oil on canvas, on loan from: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain) was part of a group of works created for the church "Santo Domingo el Antiguo".
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Greco_Trinity.jpg
Opening the Seal
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/ElGrecoOpeningseal.jpg