El Greco

El Greco (‘the Greek’) was born in Crete, but is now seen as representing a high point in Spanish painting. Having initially trained in the Byzantine icon tradition, he moved to Venice during the 1860s and entered the workshop of Titian. He learnt much from studying the colorful and painterly style of Tintoretto, whilst time in Rome allowed him to absorb the works of Michelangelo. By 1577, he had travelled to Toledo and begun the first of many religious altarpiece commissions. His most famous remains The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586-8). Although his portraits were often distinctly naturalistic, his altarpieces displayed the twisting, elongated distortions of the Mannerist style. El Greco’s work aimed at capturing a vivid religious truth beyond the realm of mere appearances. This ecstatic, visionary quality can also be seen in the two paintings he made of Toledo. The rise of Expressionism owes much to his work being ‘re-discovered’ at the end of the nineteenth century.