El Greco
By Paul Martineau
About El Greco
He was born in Crete, Greece in 1541 and died on April 6, 1614 in Toledo Spain, the area where he spent most of his life, Spain. He was an artist that studied under Titian in Venice when he was young- about his 20's and Giulio Clovio patronized him in Rome, before he goes off to Spain later in his life, where he gets patronized by a Toledo Cathedral to make his highest caliber works. However, when it came time to pay, a litigation was needed. His "Portrait of a Man" is a supposed self-portrait, but it isn't confirmed. His style is most closely related to Naturalism, because he did many portraits, and they were just like how they would look in real-life. Although he really enjoyed literature too, and had a collection of literature from Spain, Italy, Greek, and even Latin works, in his library.
Portrait of a Physician
Portrait of a Physician, made in 1585-1589, is currently at the Museo del Prado, in Spain. It was made using his new knowledge of naturalism that he learned in Venice. I like this picture because the man is as real as a painting back then could get and he honestly has a really cool beard, like many of the men at the time. You can tell its Naturalism because he is pretty ugly and not in ideal physical condition, which is very ironic.
Works Cited
"El Greco." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Portrait of a Man. El Greco. 1590-1600. ARTstor [online]. New York: New York. [cited 3 Dec. 2015]. Available from the World Wide Web.
Portrait of a Physician. El Greco. 1585-1589. ARTstor [online]. New York: New York. [cited 3 Dec. 2015]. Available from the World Wide Web.