In 1541, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, was born on the island of Crete
in Greece. He became a master draftsman in Greece. In 1559, at the age of
18, he left Crete to study in Venice. There he studied for 10 years, and for 7
more years he studied in Rome. In 1577, after 17 years in Italy, he went to
Spain seeking patronage. Spain’s King Philip II was hiring artists to work on
the palace and monastery of the Escorial. In Spain, he did most of his work.
The Spaniards called him “El Greco”, Spanish for “The Greek”. Philip didn’t
particularly like his work, therefor he never gained royal favor. He settled in
Toledo, the religious center in Spain. There he created many great paintings
and portraits including The Burial of Count Orgaz, painted in 1586, and
probably his greatest and most famous masterpiece. He died in 1614.
El Greco’s works were both characteristic and uncharacteristic if the
Renaissance style. His mature works were the Venetian version of
Mannerism, using graceful elongated forms and metallic colors with white
highlights. His works combined courtly elegance with religious flavor. In
other works, he intentionally elongated and distorted forms to emphasize the
spiritual quality of a figure or event. His saints were ghostly while his
portraits of nobles were elegant and realistic. In 1586, his most famous
painting, The Burial of Count Orgaz, was painted and is considered a
In my humble, yet somehow always correct opinion, this portrait is
undoubtedly distinct from all others in its complex beauty. His ability to
transform an occasion as gaunt as a death, depicted by dark colors and
dreary, forlorn faces, into the joyous occasion of his ascension into heaven,
delineated by bright color and the and the portrayal of Jesus, Mary, and St.
Peter, is truly outstanding. This work’s combination of i
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