There were many inspiring and fantastic painters in the 1500's. Europe had painters who made a big impact on the world. El Greco was a Greek painter who moved to Spain and is regarded as one of the greatest religious painters and a master portraitist.
             El Greco is one of the most famous painters of all time, and the story of his young life and emigration to Spain is a great one. El Greco was born in Candia, Crete. Not much is known about his childhood. He grew up and was trained as a icon-maker in a monastery and then went to Venice around 1560, where Titian became his greatest mentor. El Greco met Michelangelo and was very influenced on his Italian style of painting, which is noticeably different from other works. Not much is known about his parents; it is speculated that they died when El Greco was very young. "El Greco" is the Spanish name of the painter. His true Greek name is Domenicos Theotocopoulos, which was the name he used when he signed his documents, including Spain where he was known by his Spanish name. El Greco started out small as did most famous painters and worked his way up. El Greco was a true rags to riches story considering he was an artist.
             El Greco grew up and learned much in his early career and had been taught by many of the greatest painters. As a young painter he moved around a lot and once out of Crete went to Venice and then onto Spain. In 1563, with the closing of the third and final session of the Council of Trent, known in European history as the Counter Reformation which commenced with it the institutionalization of Catholic life in accordance with the rules made by the Conciliar Fathers. This led to El Greco's inspiration to be a religious painter. Two worksthat are signed by Master Domenikos who was an icon, in Athens and a small portable triptych, which have been attributed to El Greco. However, their authorship cannot be established with certainty. After World War II, a vast numb...