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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,
St Francis and Brother
230 x 148 mm Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid This engraving was made after a painting by El Greco (now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). Prints played a key role in religious propaganda. In the Hispanic world, it was Dutch artists who performed this task. As a result, Spain lacked skilled engravers who might have reproduced El Greco's work for a larger audience
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