1. Doménikos
Theotokópoulos
El GRECO
GREEK TEAM

2. El Greco or
Doménikos
Theotokópoulos
(1541 – 1614)
was a
painter, sculptor
and architect of
the Spanish
Renaissance

3. "El Greco" (The Greek) was a nickname, a
reference to his national Greek origin, and
the artist normally signed his paintings with
his full birth name in Greek letters,
Δομήνικος
Θεοτοκόπουλος
(Doménikos
Theotokópoulos),
often adding the
word Κρής
"Cretan".

4. Early years in Greece
He was born in Candia, Crete, which was at
that time part of the Republic of
Venice, and the center of Post-Byzantine
art.
 He trained and
became a master
in Crete before
travelling at age
26 to Venice, as
many other
Greek artists .


5. Early WorkCretan period

1565-1566
Dormition of the
Virgin, Holy
Cathedral of the
Dormition of the
Virgin, Hermoupo
lis, Syros, Greece
.

6. Venice



About 1566, El Greco Went to Venice where
he remained until 1570.
He was employed in the workshop of Titian
and was also strongly influenced by
Tintoretto both masters of the high
Renaissance.
Early Venetian paintings such as “Christ
healing the blind man” demonstrated his
Assimilation of Tintoretto’s figural
compositions and use of deep spatial
recesses.

7. Christ Healing the Blind, by El Greco

8. Christ Healing the Blind Man. 1560s. Oil on panel. Alte Meister Gallerie,
Dresden, Germany

9. Rome


In 1570, El Greco moved to Rome, where
he executed a series of works strongly
marked by his Venetian apprenticeship.
During his stay in
Italy, El Greco
enriched his style
with elements of
Mannerism and of
the Venetian
Renaissance.
Jacopo Tintoretto

10. Two of El Greco’s paintings
included in Orsini’s collection

11. El Greco’s Allegory of the Holy League
said to be heavily influenced by Michelangelo

12. Other paintings by El Greco during his time in Italy
Christ driving the
traders from the
temple - El Greco
El Greco painting of St
John The Evangelist And
St Francis
Italian Annunciation
painting by El Greco

13. Spain


In 1577, El Greco migrated to Madrid, then to
Toledo, where he produced his mature works.
He arrived in Toledo by July 1577, and signed
contracts for a group of paintings that was to
adorn the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo
in Toledo and for the renowned El Espolio.

14. View of
Toledo
c. 1597, Oil
on canvas
The
Metropolitan
Museum of
Art, New York

15. Toledo

By September 1579 he had completed
nine paintings for Santo Domingo,
including The Trinity and The Assumption
of the Virgin

He did manage to secure two important
commissions from the monarch: Allegory
of the Holy League and Martyrdom of St.
Maurice

16. Assumption of the Virgin. 1577-1579.
Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, USA.

17. The end



During the course of the execution of a
commission for the Hospital Tavera , El Greco
fell seriously ill, and a month later, on 7 April
1614, he died.
A few days earlier, on 31 March, he had
directed that his son should have the power to
make his will.
Two Greeks, friends of the painter, witnessed
this last will and , he was buried in the Church
of Santo Domingo el Antiguo , aged 73.

18. The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

19. The Disrobing of Christ

21. El Greco’s
famous works
The Resurrection
1584-1594. Oil on canvas.
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

22. El Greco. Mary
Magdalen in
Penitence. c. 1577.
Oil on canvas. Worcester
Art Museum, Worcester,
Massachusetts, USA
His artistic roots are
diverse: he traveled
between Greece, Venice,
Rome, and Spain
(settling in Toledo). The
Christian doctrines of
Spain made a crucial
impact on his approach
to painting, and his art
represents a blend of
passion and restraint,
religious fervor and
Neo-Platonism,
influenced by the
mysticism of the
Counter-Reformation.

23. Baptism of
Christ
1597-1600 Oil
on canvas, 350 x
144 cm; Museo
del Prado,
Madrid
The Holy Trinity
1577 Oil on
canvas, 300 x
179 cm (118 1/8
x 70 1/2");
Museo del
Prado, Madrid

24. The statue of
Laocoön and His
Sons, also called
the Laocoön Group
shows the Trojan
priest Laocoön and
his sons being
strangled by sea
serpents.

25. St.Peter in Tears. c.
1580-1585. Oil on
canvas. The Bowes
Museum, Barnard
Castle, Couty
Durham, UK

26. Christ Carrying the
Cross. c. 1590-1595.
Oil on canvas. Oscar
B. Cintas
Foundation, NY,
USA

27. Christ on the Cross with
Landscapes. c. 1605-1610. Oil on
canvas. The Cleveland Museum of
Art, Cleveland, USA

28. El Greco - Self Portrait
as Saint Luke c1604
(one of the Portraits of
the Apostles in the
Sacristy of Toledo
Cathedral)

29. Thank you!