The El Greco Experience
Riley Walsh
The Life of El Greco
El Greco, an artist in the time of the Renaissance, was born in Crete, Greece during the year 1541. Most of his life was spent in Toledo, Spain, where he eventually started gaining interest in art. Eventually, he went to the Great Artistic Center of Venice. Afterwards, he ended up learning some religious painting skills from a pupil of his, Titian. His lifestyle featured many religious artistic pieces that he had created, and eventually became one of the most well known religious artists during the Renaissance age. A man by the name of Master Domenikos had requested a couple of El Greco's first pieces of art to be created, being an icon of Athens and a small portable triptych based on Modena. El Greco himself could've been thought to represent humanism due to how most of his art shows that man and God are equal. He also represents scientific naturalism due to his focus on the combination of the real word and the world of religion.
The Burial of Count Orgaz - El Greco
This painting, 'The Burial of Count Orgaz', was created by El Greco and commissioned by the priest of Santo Tome in Toledo during the year of 1586. Most likely able to be found in a museum of some sort, this painting combines the techniques of involving humanism in a painting and including perspective. The painting itself is an attempt to show loyalty to a benefactor that has been dead for a long time. One of the ways in which it does this is the fact that Saints Stephen and Augustine show themselves in order to aid in the burial of the man. This piece has to do with humanism due to its massive connection between humans and religion. In my opinion, this art is interesting due to the combination of dark and light colors in one scenario, as well as the connection between the real world and the spiritual world. A website, known as metmuseum, involves a rather large description having to do with both El Greco's life and his interesting piece of art, known as 'The Burial of Count Orgaz' (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grec/hd_grec.htm).
Citations
"El Greco." Wikimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Greco_021.jpg>. - El Greco Picture
Christiansen, Keith. "El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541–1614)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grec/hd_grec.htm (October 2004) - The Burial of Count Orgaz
"El Greco." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. - Information