El Greco, Adoration of the Name of Jesus, 1579.
Oil on canvas, 140 x 110 cm. Madrid, Escorial.
Spanish painting of the Five Hundreds was dominated by a great master, the Cretan Dominic Theotocopuli (1541-1614), called for his origins, El Greco.
Very little is known about his education; however, it’s easy to imagine that he grew up in the shadow of Byzantine tradition. In 1559-60, he went to Venice, where he is remembered as “a young pupil of Titian”; in 1541-1614 he went to, Rome and finally, from 1577, he settled permanently in Toledo.
In Spain, where he found his spiritual homeland, El Greco was the painter of lords and high priests; for themselves, he produced very lively portraits and sacred paintings.
His first Spanish masterpiece, the Adoration of the Name of Jesus from 1579, shows the unmistakable sign of his style.
The composition, imbued with light, represents the highest expressive sign that the stormy search for manneristic painting took place. The present elements refer to different painting languages, Byzantine, Venetian, Roman, and Spanish, but fused with exceptional fantastic strength in the attempt to elaborate a passionate religious message.
0The figures are elongated, the faces sharpened, the expressions drawn: these are not self-finished files, but figurative tools that can express the highest spiritual tension.
From Art Revealed
You must be logged in to post a comment.