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El Greco
El Greco (1541–1614), born Domenikos Theotokopoulos, was one of the most fascinating and distinctive artists of the sixteenth century. His works are immediately recognizable for their brilliant colors, elongated figures, and spiritual intensity.
Initially trained in Crete, in around 1567 El Greco moved to Italy where he purportedly studied with Titian. A decade later he is documented in Toledo (south of Madrid), and he spent the rest of his long life in Spain. His paintings and writings offer a thoughtful, frequently inspired response to the varied environments in which he worked—and they reveal that he was deeply engaged with the religious and artistic thinking of his times.
This lavishly illustrated book—the first comprehensive English-language publication on El Greco in many years—addresses the full range of the artist’s work in painting and sculpture, from his Byzantine icons to his late altarpieces. It considers his personality from both a religious and intellectual point of view, and presents the artist’s religious, mythological, genre, landscape, and portrait works, providing the historical context in which they were made.
Initially trained in Crete, in around 1567 El Greco moved to Italy where he purportedly studied with Titian. A decade later he is documented in Toledo (south of Madrid), and he spent the rest of his long life in Spain. His paintings and writings offer a thoughtful, frequently inspired response to the varied environments in which he worked—and they reveal that he was deeply engaged with the religious and artistic thinking of his times.
This lavishly illustrated book—the first comprehensive English-language publication on El Greco in many years—addresses the full range of the artist’s work in painting and sculpture, from his Byzantine icons to his late altarpieces. It considers his personality from both a religious and intellectual point of view, and presents the artist’s religious, mythological, genre, landscape, and portrait works, providing the historical context in which they were made.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 31, 2016
I find this compilation of El Greco's paintings powerful for two reasons: the intense, dramatic Post-Byzantine paintings were considered nearly sacrilegious for their time (which is no doubt a fact that endeared Nikos Kazantzakis to El Greco's work centuries later); and I was reared in Crete (where El Greco was also born), so I visited the tiny El Greco museum with my school yearly from the time I was 6-years-old until I was 11. I remember looking up in awe at huge paintings I didn't understand--burgundy cloaked figured and dark skies, something meant to be religious, but frightening to a child (I just knew I felt uneasy and was ready for the next phase of the trip where we got to feed the pelican). I had nearly forgotten those trips until I saw this book.
December 10, 2021
he really was that guy
June 19, 2018
El Greco 101 :)
Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614)
"For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face"
(St Paul, I Corinthians, xiii. 12.)
"Future ages will admire his genius but none will imitate it"
Hortensio Paravicino
Notes:
Find out more about Neoplatonism
•Dictionary: a philosophical system, originated in the 3rd century a.d. by Plotinus, founded chiefly on Platonic doctrine and Eastern mysticism, with later influences from Christianity. It holds that all existence consists of emanations from the One with whom the soul may be reunited.
•Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplat...
p4:
Another important aspect of this spiritual movement was the profound interest in Neoplatonism. This provided an intellectual framework with its concept of the subordination of the physical world to the world of the spirit, that higher reality to which man aspired. It would seem that, with the gradual erosion of Erasmian influence, the spiritual writers derived increasing intellectual support from Neoplatonism.
Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614)
"For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face"
(St Paul, I Corinthians, xiii. 12.)
"Future ages will admire his genius but none will imitate it"
Hortensio Paravicino
Notes:
Find out more about Neoplatonism
•Dictionary: a philosophical system, originated in the 3rd century a.d. by Plotinus, founded chiefly on Platonic doctrine and Eastern mysticism, with later influences from Christianity. It holds that all existence consists of emanations from the One with whom the soul may be reunited.
•Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplat...
p4:
Another important aspect of this spiritual movement was the profound interest in Neoplatonism. This provided an intellectual framework with its concept of the subordination of the physical world to the world of the spirit, that higher reality to which man aspired. It would seem that, with the gradual erosion of Erasmian influence, the spiritual writers derived increasing intellectual support from Neoplatonism.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews