El Greco

1541-1614

European Artist

"The Greek," who signed paintings with his Greek name, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, was forever influenced by his birthplace. Crete was a center for the Byzantine artistic tradition, concerned more with abstraction and pattern than with recording natural appearances. From 1568 to 1577, El Greco lived in Venice and Rome, where Titian's broad brushwork and bright colors, Tintoretto's sweeping movement, and Michelangelo's monumental figures reshaped his Byzantine heritage without replacing it. He later left for Spain. Failing to win favor at the Madrid court, he settled in Toledo, Spain's cultural and religious center. There he developed his trademark style-elongated figures, ecstatically free brushwork, expressive lighting, and acid color-a manner so personal that his assistants never attempted to follow his example. Acclaimed for his penetrating portraits, El Greco also received ecclesiastical commissions throughout Spain, including designing altarpieces. His paintings of Toledo are among Europe's first pure landscapes.