Domenicos Theotocopoulos (1541-1614) - Spanish artist of Greek origin. In Spain, he received the nickname El Greco, that is, Greek. Not a single portrait has been preserved, which we can confidently say is El Greco. All of them are only speculative.
Some information about the artist
He was born on about. Crete even painted Orthodox icons for the first time, which undoubtedly left its mark on the style of his work. Then he studied in Italy, which at that time lost the harmony of the Renaissance and lost the connection between the spiritual and the physical.
At 35, he moved to the Iberian Peninsula. By this time, his style was developed. It was impossible to compare him at all with any painter, either early or late. He is the only, unique. There were no repetitions.
In Toledo, having already lived ten years in Spain, El Greco will write a completely original and unusual work. This is the painting āBurial of Count Orgasā (1586). The work was commissioned by the church of Sao Tome, in which the painter himself was a parishioner. And the customer was his friend, the priest of this church, Andres Nunez.
El Greco, āBurial of Count Orgasā: description of the painting
The plot of the ordered work is unusual. Don Ruiz Gonzalo de Toledo himself, Count of Orgas, died in 1323. He made rich donations to the church where he was buried, and after his death a legend about a miracle arose. According to this story, the pious count was lowered into the coffin by saints descending from heaven. Augustine and St. Stephen. A record of this is carved on a stone slab, which is located under the picture.
We are just starting to describe the work āThe Burial of Count Orgasā, which is of monumental size. Its height is about five meters, and the width is close to four.
Composition of heaven paintings
There is an assumption that it is associated with the icon "Assumption of the Virgin", which was written by El Greco around 1567. The picture of the countās funeral is clearly divided into two zones, in each of which miracles occur. Below, in the earthly part, the body of the deceased count is carefully supported on the left by young St. Stephen in the vestments of a deacon, and on the right - St. Augustine in the clothes of the bishop.
An angel lifts the countās soul, likened to a light exhalation, to heaven through the dispersing clouds, and there she is met in the center of the image and being the apex and Light of the world, Jesus Christ himself, to the right of which is the figure of Our Lady, and to the left - John the Baptist. This group has an oval shape.
To the right, this line passes through two saints, located just above John the Baptist and dressed in a bright orange cloak (James) and a blue tunic (Paul). On the left Peter with two keys does not fit into this oval. But Christ tells him to open the gates with his hand for the countās soul. The ghostly images of Cardinal Tavera and King Philip II are in the waves of clouds. On the left is King David with a harp in his hands, Moses with the tablets of the Covenant and Noah. The whole host of saints, righteous and martyrs, written surreal, incorporeally, in the Byzantine style, is seen only by a priest who looked up. Thus is the burial of Count Orgas in the open world.
Earth composition
If the upper part of the canvas takes the spirit to higher spheres, then the lower part is quite real. The mournful burial of Count Orgas and his transition to another world are accompanied by very real people - nobles, clergy and monks (Dominican and Franciscan). These are portraits of contemporaries of the artist.
Right in the foreground, holding a prayer book, is the priest Andres Nunez. We see him in profile. The second priest is dressed in elemental, thin and transparent, which resonates in color with the upper part of the composition. It is he who binds the earthly and heavenly world, which was revealed to him alone, and from which he does not take his eyes off. The Page Boy is the son of the painter. He points the spectator with his hand to the saints, whom the people participating in the ceremony do not seem to notice. A child connects two worlds - a painted picture and an external, real, earthly one. These two figures - the child and the priest - are key in the composition.
The burial of Count Orgaz, which is accompanied by a miracle, is seized by the unity that the Spanish nobles restrainedly survive. Their faces are outwardly impassive, but they are all as if fenced off from the outside world with its temptations. Their experiences are expressed in refined pale faces with closed lips and restrained movements of their graceful hands. It is assumed that not only real Toledo nobles are written here, but also El Greco himself. His face looks directly at the viewer. It is to him that the arm raised above the head of St. Stefan.
On the canvas there are no concrete signs of the scene. And the general light comes from nowhere, it just spreads at the bottom of the picture. Even funeral torches do not cast reflections. El Greco performed the burial of Count Orgas in the form of an oval. It is formed by the figures of saints. This is the compositional and color center of the lower part. Moreover, in relation to the upper oval, it is shifted to the left. The images of saints themselves embody the highest spiritual beauty. This is how El Greco's painting āBurial of Count Orgasā is gradually described.
Color
It is all built on a solemn and mournful fusion of black, silver-gray and golden cold tones. Red, black, blue and yellow accents stand out. But even the golden robes of the saints do not carry heat. Torches also shine coldly, one of which almost touches the wing of an angel in cold yellow with greenish reflections of a robe. It is as if inflated by the wind, which lifts it into the heavenly spheres. The whole transcendental world is filled with dense, but at the same time translucent, with hard edges, grayish-silver clouds. They play a variety of shadows from black and gray to cold, pale bluish.
Only the whitening figure of Jesus, leaving in the golden depths, the coarsely painted John the Baptist and the scarlet dress with the blue cloak of Mary, stand out clearly. She, lowering her hand, touches the translucent shroud in which the countās soul is wrapped, and she meets her motherly. So wrote El Greco's "Burial of Count Orgas." The description cannot convey how the artist connected the real and exalted worlds in the picture.
How contemporaries perceived the picture
The altar image created by El Greco delighted the inhabitants of Toledo. After all, the canvas tells about the secret of crossing the threshold of death, that at this time the person is not alone: āāthe Redeemer Jesus Christ helps him, his Mother, who is both our Mother and all the saints in heaven, are our older brothers. Everyone came to admire the wonderful huge canvas, which recognized prominent citizens, aristocrats, and priests. Even foreigners came to the city only to watch this work.
The artist carefully thought out how to connect the canvas with the interior of a small church, and it is organically integrated into it. The fame of El Greco has grown incredibly. He was at her zenith. His other works were taken outside the city and Spain, and this one never left the modest church, which was once rebuilt from the mosque after the final expulsion of the Moors. True, for some time the picture was taken, and it was in the pantries of the church. But then she was again exposed. Now, a backlight has been made to it, and it was blocked by a grate.
Interesting facts related to the picture
The canvas by El Greco āThe Burial of Count Orgasā, the description of which was given in the article, has several strange stories associated with it:
- Senor Orgas left a testament after his death, according to which residents were to pay a tax on the improvement of the church. His will was not fulfilled. A lawsuit arose, which ended with the fact that money for the temple was received. Having them, the priesthood made an order to paint a picture to the artist El Greco.
- The painter received clear indications of exactly what should be depicted: the legend itself about the participation of saints in the mournful ceremony and portraits of famous citizens. The canvas should completely close one of the walls of the church. The master managed to accomplish everything without embarrassing himself as a creator.
- The portraits depict not only local aristocrats, but also the parish priest, and the artistās son, and presumably himself and members of the military religious order (there are red crosses on their clothes).
- The picture was appreciated not only by contemporaries, but the artist himself considered it his highest achievement.
- The payment, however, did not match either the artistic qualities or the thoroughness of the detailed execution of the order and was low - only one thousand two hundred ducats.
Reviews of tourists who visited Toledo
Russian tourists unanimously admire the El Greco painting. All unanimously say that visiting Toledo is worth it just to see her. Note that many liked the small church of Sao Tome itself and the cathedral of St. Mary, and the fortress of Alcazar. They also say that taking pictures in the church is forbidden, but in fact many took photographs.
You can see other works of the master in his house-museum.