GRECO, El
Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614
Greek painter, designer and engraver, active in Italy and Spain. One of the most original and interesting painters of 16th-century Europe, he transformed the Byzantine style of his early paintings into another, wholly Western manner. He was active in his native Crete, in Venice and Rome, and, during the second half of his life, in Toledo. He was renowned in his lifetime for his originality and extravagance and provides one of the most curious examples of the oscillations of taste in the evaluation of a painter,
ID: 62331 Adoration of the Shepherds 11 x 47 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome The two paintings in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome (Adoration of the Shepherds, Baptism of Christ) were considered workshop pieces or autograph replicas of two of the three pictures that El Greco executed for the Colegio di Do?a Mar?a de Arag?n in Madrid (now dispersed and housed in the Muzeul de Arta, Bucharest and the Museo del Prado, Madrid). However, a recent radiographic analysis (1997) has proven that they are original oil sketches by the hand of El Greco himself. The presence of pentimenti, compositional emendations beneath the paint surface, reveals the creative process of the artist and leads to the conclusion that these are not copies but preparatory bozzetti for the Madrid cycle. The important commission, probably designed as a triptych to decorate the high altar of the chapel, was given to El Greco in 1596: work continued until the Holy Year of 1600. The third oil sketch, depicting the Annunciation, is preserved at the museum in Bilbao. The silvery light, the coloristic range based on cold tones, the quick, almost impressionistic brushwork and the use of strong contrasts of light and shadow in this picture are all typical characteristics of El Greco's Spanish manner (1576-1614). Author: GRECO, El Title: Adoration of the Shepherds , 1551-1600 , Spanish Form: painting , religious
