El Greco ("The Greek"[a][b], 1541 – April 7
1614) was a painter, sculptor,
and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. He
usually signed his paintings in Greek letters with his full name, Doménicos
Theotokópoulos (Greek: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος), underscoring
his Greek origin.
El Greco was born in Crete, which was at that time part of the Republic of Venice, and the centre of Post-Byzantine art. He
trained and became a master within that tradition before travelling at 26 to Venice, as other
Greek artists had done.[1] In 1570 he moved
to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works. During his stay in
Italy, El Greco enriched his style with elements of Mannerism
and of the Venetian Renaissance. In 1577 he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death. In Toledo, El
Greco received several major commissions and produced his best known paintings.
El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the
20th century. El Greco is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, while his personality and works were a source of
inspiration for poets and writers such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Nikos Kazantzakis. El Greco has been characterized by modern scholars as an artist so individual that
he belongs to no conventional school.[2] He is best
known for tortuously elongated figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation,
marrying Byzantine traditions with those of Western
painting.[3]
Life
Early years and family
Born in 1541 in either the village of Fodele or Candia (the Venetian name of Chandax, present day Heraklion) in Crete,[c] El Greco was descended from a prosperous urban family, which had probably been driven
out of Chania to Candia after an uprising against the Venetians between 1526 and 1528.[4] El Greco's father, Geórgios Theotocópoulos (d. 1556), was a merchant and tax collector. Nothing is known about his mother or his first wife, a Greek woman.[5] El Greco's older brother, Manoússos
Theotokópoulos (1531 – December 13 1604), was a wealthy
merchant and spent the last years of his life (1603–1604) in El Greco's Toledo home.[6]
The Dormition of the Virgin (before
1567,
tempera and gold on panel, 61,4 × 45 cm, Holy Cathedral of
the Dormition of the Virgin,
Hermoupolis,
Syros) was probably
created near the end of the artist's Cretan period. The painting combines post-Byzantine and Italian mannerist stylistic and
iconographic elements.
El Greco received his initial training as an icon painter of the Cretan school, the leading centre of post-Byzantine art. In addition to painting, he probably studied the
classics of ancient Greece, and perhaps the
Latin classics also; he left a "working library" of 130 books at his death, including the Bible in
Greek and an annotated Vasari.[1] Candia was a center for artistic activity where Eastern and Western cultures co-existed
harmoniously, where around two hundred painters were active during the 16th century, and
had organized a painters' guild, based on the Italian model.[4] In 1563, at the age of twenty-two, El Greco was
described in a document as a "master" ("maestro Domenigo"), meaning he was already a master of the guild and presumably operating
his own workshop.[1]Three years later, in
June 1566, as a witness to a contract, he signed his name as Master Menégos Theotokópoulos, painter (μαΐστρος Μένεγος Θεοτοκόπουλος σγουράφος).[d]
Most scholars believe that the Theotocópoulos "family was almost certainly Greek Orthodox",[7] although some Catholic sources still claim him from birth.[e] Like many Orthodox emigrants to Europe, he apparently transferred to Catholicism after his
arrival, and certainly practised as a Catholic in Spain, where he described himself as a "devout Catholic" in his will. The
extensive archival research conducted since the early 1960s by scholars, such as Nikolaos Panayotakis, Pandelis Prevelakis and
Maria Constantoudaki, indicates strongly that El Greco's family and ancestors were Greek Orthodox. One of his uncles was an
Orthodox priest, and his name is not mentioned in the Catholic archival baptismal records on Crete.[8] Prevelakis goes even further, expressing his doubt that El Greco
was ever a practicing Roman Catholic.[9]
In Italy
Portrait of Giorgio Giulio Clovio, the earliest surviving portrait from El Greco (c. 1570,
oil on canvas, 58 × 86 cm,
Museo di
Capodimonte,
Naples). In the portrait of Clovio, friend and supporter in Rome of the young
Cretan artist, the first evidence of El Greco's gifts as a
portraitist are apparent.
Crete having been a possession of the Republic of Venice since 1211, it was natural for the young El Greco to pursue his
career in Venice.[2] Though the exact year is not
clear, most scholars agree that El Greco went to Venice around 1567.[f] Knowledge of El Greco's years in Italy is limited. He lived in Venice until 1570 and,
according to a letter written by his much older friend, the greatest miniaturist of the age, the Croatian Giulio Clovio, was a "disciple" of Titian, who was by then in his eighties
but still vigorous. This may mean he worked in Titian's large studio, or not. Clovio characterized El Greco as "a rare talent in
painting".[10]
In 1570 El Greco moved to Rome, where he executed a series of works strongly marked by his Venetian apprenticeship.[10] It is unknown how long he remained in Rome,
though he may have returned to Venice (c. 1575–1576) before he left for Spain.[11] In Rome, El Greco was received as a guest at the Palazzo Farnese, which Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese had made a centre of the artistic and intellectual life of the city. There he came into contact with the
intellectual elite of the city, including the Roman scholar Fulvio Orsini, whose
collection would later include seven paintings by the artist (View of Mt. Sinai and a
portrait of Clovio are among them).[12]
Unlike other Cretan artists who had moved to Venice, El Greco substantially altered his style and sought to distinguish
himself by inventing new and unusual interpretations of traditional religious subject matter.[13] His works painted in Italy were influenced by the Venetian Renaissance
style of the period, with agile, elongated figures reminiscent of Tintoretto and a chromatic
framework that connects him to Titian.[2] The Venetian
painters also taught him to organize his multi-figured compositions in landscapes vibrant with atmospheric light. Clovio reports
visiting El Greco on a summer's day while the artist was still in Rome. El Greco was sitting in a darkened room, because he found
the darkness more conducive to thought than the light of the day, which disturbed his "inner light".[14] As a result of his stay in Rome, his works were enriched with
elements such as violent perspective vanishing points or strange attitudes
struck by the figures with their repeated twisting and turning and tempestuous gestures; all elements of Mannerism.[10]
By the time El Greco arrived in Rome, Michelangelo and Raphael were dead, but their example continued to be paramount and left little room for different approaches.
Although the artistic heritage of these great masters was overwhelming for young painters, El Greco was determined to make his
own mark in Rome defending his personal artistic views, ideas and style.[15] He singled out Correggio and Parmigianino for particular praise,[16] but he did not hesitate to dismiss
Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel;[g] he extended an offer to Pope Pius V to paint over the whole work in accord with the new and stricter Catholic thinking.[17] When he was later asked what he thought about
Michelangelo, El Greco replied that "he was a good man, but he did not know how to paint".[18] And thus we are confronted by a paradox: El Greco is said to have
reacted most strongly or even condemned Michelangelo, but he had found it impossible to withstand his influence.[19] Michelangelo's influence can be seen in later El
Greco works such as the Allegory of the Holy League.[20] By painting portraits of Michelangelo, Titian, Clovio and, presumably, Raphael in one of his
works (The Purification of the Temple), El Greco not only expressed his gratitude but advanced the claim to rival these
masters. As his own commentaries indicate, El Greco viewed Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael as models to emulate.[17] In his 17th
century Chronicles, Giulio Mancini included El Greco among the painters who had initiated, in various ways, a
re-evaluation of Michelangelo's teachings.[21]
Because of his unconventional artistic beliefs (such as his dismissal of Michelangelo's technique) and personality, El Greco
soon acquired enemies in Rome. Architect and writer Pirro Ligorio called him a "foolish
foreigner", and newly discovered archival material reveals a skirmish with Farnese, who obliged the young artist to leave his
palace.[21] On July 6 1572, El Greco officially complained about this event. A few months later,
on September 18 1572, El Greco paid his dues to the
Guild of Saint Luke in Rome as a miniature painter.[22] At the end of that year, El Greco opened his own workshop and hired as assistants the painters
Lattanzio Bonastri de Lucignano and Francisco Preboste.[21]
In Spain
Immigration to Toledo
The Assumption of the Virgin (1577–1579, oil on canvas, 401 × 228 cm,
Art Institute of Chicago) was one of the nine paintings El Greco completed for the church of
Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo, his first commission in Spain.
In 1577, El Greco emigrated first to Madrid, then to Toledo, where he produced his mature
works.[23] At the time, Toledo was
the religious capital of Spain and a populous city[h] with "an illustrious past, a prosperous present and an uncertain future".[24] In Rome, El Greco had earned the respect of some
intellectuals, but was also facing the hostility of certain art critics.[25] During the 1570s the huge monastery-palace
of El Escorial was still under construction and Philip
II of Spain was experiencing difficulties in finding good artists for the many large paintings required to decorate it.
Titian was dead, and Tintoretto, Veronese and
Anthonis Mor all refused to come to Spain. Philip had had to rely on the lesser talent of
Juan Fernándes de Navarrete, whose gravedad y decoro ("seriousness and
decorum") the king approved. However he had just died in 1579; the moment should have been ideal for El Greco.[26] Through Clovio and Orsini, El Greco met Benito Arias Montano, a Spanish humanist and agent of Philip; Pedro
Chacón, a clergyman; and Luis de Castilla, son of Diego de Castilla, the dean of the Cathedral of
Toledo.[27] El Greco's
friendship with Castilla would secure his first large commissions in Toledo. 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.[28] By September 1579 he had completed nine paintings for Santo Domingo,
including The Trinity and The Assumption of the Virgin. These works would establish the painter's reputation in
Toledo.[22]
El Greco did not plan to settle permanently in Toledo, since his final aim was to win the favor of Philip and make his mark in
his court.[29] Indeed, he did manage to
secure two important commissions from the monarch: Allegory of the Holy League and Martyrdrom of St. Maurice. However, the king did not like these works and placed the St Maurice altarpiece in the
chapter-house rather than the intended chapel. He gave no further commissions to El
Greco.[30] The exact reasons for the king's
dissatisfaction remain unclear. Some scholars have suggested that Philip did not like the inclusion of living persons in a
religious scene;[30] some others that El
Greco's works violated a basic rule of the Counter-Reformation, namely that in the
image the content was paramount rather than the style.[31] Philip took a close interest in his artistic commissions, and had very decided tastes; a long
sought-after sculpted Crucifixion by Benvenuto Cellini also failed to please when it
arrived, and was likewise exiled to a less prominent place. Philip's next experiment, with Federigo Zuccaro was even less successful.[32] In any case, Philip's dissatisfaction ended any hopes of royal patronage El Greco may have
had.[22]
Mature works and later years
The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586–1588, oil on canvas,
480 × 360 cm, Santo Tomé, Toledo), now El Greco's best known work, illustrates a popular local legend. An
exceptionally large painting, it is very clearly divided into two zones: the heavenly above and the terrestrial below. However,
there is little feeling of duality, and the upper and lower zones are brought together compositionally.
Lacking the favor of the king, El Greco was obliged to remain in Toledo, where he had been received in 1577 as a great
painter.[33] According to Hortensio Félix Paravicino, a 17th-century Spanish preacher and poet, "Crete gave him life
and the painter’s craft, Toledo a better homeland, where through Death he began to achieve eternal life."[34] In 1585, he appears to have hired an assistant, Italian painter Francisco Preboste, and to have established a workshop capable of producing
altar frames and statues as well as paintings.[35] On March 12 1586 he obtained the commission for The Burial of the Count
of Orgaz, now his best-known work.[36] The decade 1597 to 1607 was a period of intense activity for El Greco. During these years
he received several major commissions, and his workshop created pictorial and sculptural ensembles for a variety of religious
institutions. Among his major commissions of this period were three altars for the Chapel of San José in Toledo (1597–1599);
three paintings (1596–1600) for the Colegio de Doña María de Aragon, an Augustinian
monastery in Madrid, and the high altar, four lateral altars, and the painting St. Ildefonso for the Capilla Mayor of the
Hospital de la Caridad (Hospital of Charity) at Illescas (1603–1605).[2] The minutes of the commission of The Virgin of the
Immaculate Conception (1607–1613), which were composed by the personnel of the municipality, describe El Greco as "one of the
greatest men in both this kingdom and outside it".[37]
Between 1607 and 1608 El Greco was involved in a protracted legal dispute with the authorities of the Hospital of Charity at
Illescas concerning payment for his work, which included painting, sculpture and architecture;[i] this and other legal disputes contributed to the economic
difficulties he experienced towards the end of his life.[38] In 1608, he received his last major commission: for the Hospital of Saint John the Baptist in Toledo.[22]
El Greco made Toledo his home. Surviving contracts mention him as the tenant from 1585 onwards of a complex consisting of
three apartments and twenty-four rooms which belonged to the Marquis de Villena.[39] It was in these apartments, which also served as
his workshop, that he passed the rest of his life, painting and studying. He lived in considerable style, sometimes employing
musicians to play whilst he dined. It is not confirmed whether he lived with his Spanish female companion, Jerónima de Las
Cuevas, whom he probably never married. She was the mother of his only son, Jorge Manuel, born in 1578, who also became a
painter, assisted his father, and continued to repeat his compositions for many years after he inherited the studio.[j] In 1604, Jorge Manuel and Alfonsa de los
Morales gave birth to El Greco's grandson, Gabriel, who was baptized by Gregorio Angulo, governor of Toledo and a personal friend
of the artist.[38]
During the course of the execution of a commission for the Hospital Tavera, El Greco fell seriously ill, and a month later, on
April 7 1614, he died. A few days earlier, on March 31, 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 testament (El Greco never lost touch with his Greek
origins).[40] He was buried in the Church
of Santo Domingo el Antigua.[41]
Art
-
Technique and style
The primacy of imagination and intuition over the subjective character of creation was a fundamental principle of El Greco's
style.[18] El Greco discarded
classicist criteria such as measure and proportion. He believed that grace is the supreme quest of art, but the painter achieves
grace only if he manages to solve the most complex problems with obvious ease.[18]
| "I hold the imitation of color to be the greatest difficulty of art." |
| El Greco (notes of the painter in one of his commentaries)[42] |
El Greco regarded color as the most important and the most ungovernable element of painting, and declared that color had
primacy over form.[18] Francisco Pacheco, a painter and theoretician who visited El Greco in 1611, wrote that the painter
liked "the colors crude and unmixed in great blots as a boastful display of his dexterity" and that "he believed in constant
repainting and retouching in order to make the broad masses tell flat as in nature".[43]
The Disrobing of Christ (
El Espolio)
(1577–1579, oil on canvas, 285 × 173 cm, Sacristy of the Cathedral, Toledo) is one of the most famous
altarpieces of El Greco. El Greco's altarpieces are renowned for their dynamic compositions
and startling innovations.
Art historian Max Dvořák was the first scholar to connect El Greco's art with Mannerism
and Antinaturalism.[44] Modern scholars characterize El Greco's theory as "typically Mannerist" and pinpoint its
sources in the Neo-Platonism of the Renaissance.[45]
Jonathan Brown believes that El Greco endeavored to create a sophisticated form of art;[46] according to Nicholas Penny "once
in Spain, El Greco was able to create a style of his own — one that disavowed most of the descriptive ambitions of
painting".[47]
In his mature works El Greco demonstrated a characteristic tendency to dramatize rather than to describe.[2] The strong spiritual emotion transfers from painting
directly to the audience. According to Pacheco, El Greco's perturbed, violent and at times seemingly careless-in-execution art
was due to a studied effort to acquire a freedom of style.[43] El Greco's preference for exceptionally tall and slender figures and elongated compositions,
which served both his expressive purposes and aesthetic principles, led him to disregard the laws of nature and elongate his
compositions to ever greater extents, particularly when they were destined for altarpieces.[48] The anatomy of the human body becomes even more otherworldly
in El Greco's mature works; for The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception El Greco asked to lengthen the altarpiece itself
by another 1.5 feet "because in this way the form will be perfect and not reduced, which is the worst thing that can happen to a
figure'". A significant innovation of El Greco's mature works is the interweaving between form and space; a reciprocal
relationship is developed between the two which completely unifies the painting surface. This interweaving would re-emerge three
centuries later in the works of Cézanne and Picasso.[48]
Another characteristic of El Greco's mature style is the use of light. As Jonathan Brown notes, "each figure seems to carry
its own light within or reflects the light that emanates from an unseen source".[49] Fernando Marias and Agustín Bustamante García, the scholars who
transcribed El Greco's handwritten notes, connect the power that the painter gives to light with the ideas underlying Christian
Neo-Platonism.[50]
View of Toledo (c. 1596–1600, oil on canvas, 47.75 × 42.75 cm,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) is one of the two surviving landscapes of Toledo painted by El Greco.
Modern scholarly research emphasizes the importance of Toledo for the complete development of El Greco's mature style and
stresses the painter's ability to adjust his style in accordance with his surroundings.[51] Harold Wethey asserts that
"although Greek by descent and Italian by artistic preparation, the artist became so immersed in the religious environment of
Spain that he became the most vital visual representative of Spanish mysticism". He believes
that in El Greco's mature works "the devotional intensity of mood reflects the religious spirit of Roman Catholic Spain in the
period of the Counter-Reformation".[2]
El Greco also excelled as a portraitist, able not only to record a sitter's features but also to convey their
character.[52] His portraits are
fewer in number than his religious paintings, but are of equally high quality. Wethey says that "by such simple means, the artist
created a memorable characterization that places him in the highest rank as a portraitist, along with Titian and Rembrandt".[2]
Suggested Byzantine affinities
Since the beginning of the 20th century, scholars have debated whether El Greco's style had Byzantine origins. Certain art
historians had asserted that El Greco's roots were firmly in the Byzantine tradition, and that his most individual
characteristics derive directly from the art of his ancestors,[53] while others had argued that Byzantine art could not be related to El Greco's later work.[54]
The discovery of the Dormition of the Virgin on
Syros, an authentic and signed work from the painter's Cretan period, and the extensive archival
research in the early 1960s, contributed to the rekindling and reassessment of these theories. Although following many
conventions of the Byzantine icon, aspects of the style certainly show Venetian influence, and the composition, showing the death
of Mary, combines the different doctrines of the Orthodox Dormition of the
Virgin and the Catholic Assumption of the Virgin.[55] Significant scholarly works of the second half of the 20th century devoted to El
Greco reappraise many of the interpretations of his work, including his supposed Byzantinism.[56] Based on the notes written in El Greco's own hand, on his unique style,
and on the fact that El Greco signed his name in Greek characters, they see an organic continuity between Byzantine painting and
his art.[57] According to Marina
Lambraki-Plaka "far from the influence of Italy, in a neutral place which was intellectually similar to his birthplace, Candia,
the Byzantine elements of his education emerged and played a catalytic role in the new conception of the image which is presented
to us in his mature work".[58] In
making this judgement, Lambraki-Plaka disagrees with Oxford University professors
Cyril Mango and Elizabeth Jeffreys, who assert
that "despite claims to the contrary, the only Byzantine element of his famous
paintings was his signature in Greek lettering".[59] Nikos Hadjinikolaou states that from 1570 El Greco's painting is "neither Byzantine nor
post-Byzantine but Western European. The works he produced in Italy belong to the history
of the Italian art, and those he produced in Spain to the history of Spanish art".[60]
The Adoration of the Magi (1565–1567, 56 × 62 cm,
Benaki Museum,
Athens). The icon, signed by El Greco ("Χείρ Δομήνιχου", Created by the hand of Doménicos), was
painted in Candia on part of an old chest.
The English art historian David Davies seeks the roots of El Greco's style in the intellectual sources of his Greek-Christian
education and in the world of his recollections from the liturgical and ceremonial aspect of the Orthodox Church. Davies believes
that the religious climate of the Counter-Reformation and the aesthetics of mannerism acted as catalysts to activate his
individual technique. He asserts that the philosophies of Platonism and ancient
Neo-Platonism, the works of Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the texts of the Church fathers and the liturgy offer
the keys to the understanding of El Greco's style.[61] Summarizing the ensuing scholarly debate on this issue, José Álvarez Lopera, curator at the
Museo del Prado, Madrid, concludes that the presence of "Byzantine memories" is obvious
in El Greco's mature works, though there are still some obscure issues concerning his Byzantine origins needing further
illumination.[62]
Architecture and sculpture
El Greco was highly esteemed as an architect and sculptor during his lifetime.[63] He usually designed complete altar compositions, working as architect and
sculptor as well as painter – at, for instance, the Hospital de la Caridad. There he decorated the chapel of the hospital, but
the wooden altar and the sculptures he created have in all probability perished.[64] For El Espolio the master designed the
original altar of gilded wood which has been destroyed, but his small sculptured group of the
Miracle of St. Ildefonso still survives on the lower centre of the frame.[2]
| "I would not be happy to see a beautiful, well-proportioned woman, no matter from which point of
view, however extravagant, not only lose her beauty in order to, I would say, increase in size according to the law of vision,
but no longer appear beautiful, and, in fact, become monstrous." |
| El Greco (marginalia the painter inscribed in his copy of Daniele Barbaro's translation of
Vitruvius)[65] |
His most important architectural achievement was the church and Monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, for which he also
executed sculptures and paintings.[66] El
Greco is regarded as a painter who incorporated architecture in his painting.[67] He is also credited with the architectural frames to his own paintings
in Toledo. Pacheco characterized him as "a writer of painting, sculpture and architecture".[18]
In the marginalia that El Greco inscribed in his copy of Daniele Barbaro's translation of Vitruvius' De Architectura, he refuted Vitruvius' attachment to archaeological
remains, canonical proportions, perspective and mathematics. He also saw Vitruvius's manner of distorting proportions in order to
compensate for distance from the eye as responsible for creating monstrous forms. El Greco was averse to the very idea of rules
in architecture; he believed above all in the freedom of invention and defended novelty, variety, and complexity. These ideas
were, however, far too extreme for the architectural circles of his era and had no immediate resonance.[67]
Legacy
-
Posthumous critical reputation
| “ |
It was a great moment. A pure righteous conscience stood on one tray of the balance,
an empire on the other, and it was you, man's conscience, that tipped the scales. This conscience will be able to stand before
the Lord as the Last Judgement and not be judged. It will judge, because human dignity, purity and valor fill even God with
terror … Art is not submission and rules, but a demon which smashes the moulds … Greco's inner-archangel's breast had thrust him
on savage freedom's single hope, this world's most excellent garret. |
” |
| |
|
The Holy Trinity (1577–1579, 300 × 178 cm, oil on canvas,
Museo del
Prado, Madrid, Spain) was part of a group of works created for the church "Santo Domingo el Antiguo".
El Greco was disdained by the immediate generations after his death because his work was opposed in many respects to the
principles of the early baroque style which came to the fore near the beginning of the 17th
century and soon supplanted the last surviving traits of the 16th-century Mannerism.[2] El Greco was deemed incomprehensible and had no important followers.[68] Only his son and a few unknown painters produced
weak copies of his works. Late 17th- and early 18th-century Spanish commentators praised his skill but criticized his
antinaturalistic style and his complex iconography. Some of these commentators, such as Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco and Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, described his mature work as "contemptible", "ridiculous" and
"worthy of scorn".[69] The views of
Palomino and Bermúdez were frequently repeated in Spanish historiography, adorned with
terms such as "strange", "queer", "original", "eccentric" and "odd".[70] The phrase "sunk in eccentricity", often encountered in such texts, in time developed
into "madness".[j]
With the arrival of Romantic sentiments in the late 18th century, El Greco's works were
examined anew.[68] To French writer
Theophile Gautier, El Greco was the precursor of the European Romantic movement in all
its craving for the strange and the extreme.[71] Gautier regarded El Greco as the ideal romantic hero (the "gifted", the "misunderstood", the
"mad"[k]), and was the first who
explicitly expressed his admiration for El Greco's later technique.[70] French art critics Zacharie Astruc and
Paul Lefort helped to promote a widespread revival of interest in his painting. In the 1890s,
Spanish painters living in Paris adopted him as their guide and mentor.[71]
In 1908, Spanish art historian Manuel Bartolomé Cossío published the first comprehensive catalogue of El Greco's works; in
this book El Greco was presented as the founder of the Spanish School.[72] The same year Julius Meier-Graefe, a scholar of
French Impressionism, travelled in Spain and recorded his experiences in The Spanische
Reise, the first book which established El Greco as a great painter of the past. In El Greco's work, Meier-Graefe found
foreshadowing of modernity.[73] These are the words
Meier-Graefe used to describe El Greco's impact on the artistic movements of his time:
| “ |
He [El Greco] has discovered a realm of new possibilities. Not even he, himself, was
able to exhaust them. All the generations that follow after him live in his realm. There is a greater difference between him and
Titian, his master, than between him and Renoir or Cézanne. Nevertheless, Renoir and Cézanne are masters of impeccable
originality because it is not possible to avail yourself of El Greco's language, if in using it, it is not invented again and
again, by the user.[74] |
” |
