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Masterpieces in History


DOMENIKOS THEOTOKOPOULOS
called EL GRECO
(Greek/Spanish, 1541-1614)


There are three main phases in his development. The pictures from the first phase (1570-80) show Venetian influence and especially Titian's: line drawing disappears, the use of colour is unlimited and the purely pictorial dommates (compare Titian's Golgotha with El Greco's). El Greco's dramatic use of light and shade and his portrait style indicate Tintoretto's influence as well as that of Veronese, Bassano and perhaps Correggio. The Holy Trinity (1577-8) belongs to this period.

The 2nd phase (1580-1604) combines some Byzantine features (especially plastic forms) with a growing sense of rhythm and movement; it includes The Martyrdom of St Maurice (1580), commissioned by Philip It in 1580 but not accepted, and Golgotha (1590). The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586), a legendary theme, shows St Augustine and St Stephen lowering the body into the grave. The canvas is filled with figures, some of then in portraits, and contrasts yet unifies the human and heavenly worlds, the austerity and solemnity of the lower part of the painting and the radiance of the Holy Ghost in the upper. The eye is led upwards to the figure of Christ, who is beseeched by John the Baptist to receive the count's soul. This spiritual exaltation is typical of El Greco; another example is The Despoiling of Christ (1583). The best of the portraits painted in this period is the Cardinal Don Fernando Nifto de Guevara (1598).

From about 1590 El Greco concentrated increasingly on portraying inner beauty and in the last phase achieved complete inward expression. From 1604 the rhythm and the simplicity of form and colour increase. The combination of Byzantine influence with rhythm, movement, intensity of expression obtained through elongation and distortion of form, use of light and unusual colour (the blues and lemons), convey the exaltation and radiance of the Holy Ghost. The later paintings include the Vision of St John the Divine (1610-14) and the View of Toledo (16o8). The latter is no mere landscape: it is a vision in which nature has overcome man.



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