El Greco

Family and Early Years

El Greco was born in 1541 on the island of Crete, in the village of Fodele or in the city of Candia (now Heraklion ) ^[c] , in a wealthy family, probably expelled from Chania to Candia after the uprising against Venice between 1526 and 1528 ^[6] . El Greco's father, Georgios Theotocopoulos (d. 1556), was a merchant and tax collector. About his mother, also a Greek woman, nothing is known ^[7] . El Greco’s older brother, Manussos Teotokopoulos (December 1531–13, 1604) was a wealthy merchant and spent the last years of his life (1603–1604) in El Greco’s Toledo house ^[8] .

In his youth, El Greco studied icon painting as part of the Cretan school . In addition, he probably studied the ancient Greek and Latin languages , this is evidenced by the 130 working volumes left behind him, a “working library”, which includes a Greek Bible and an annotated edition of Vasari ^[9] . Candia was a center of art, where eastern and western cultures coexisted harmoniously, where over the course of the 16th century about two hundred artists who organized the art guild, created after the Italian ones, were created ^[6] . In 1563, at the age of 22, El Greco was mentioned in one of the documents as a “master” (“maestro Domenico”), which means he attains the status of a master and the opportunity to organize his own workshop ^[10] . Three years later, in June 1566, when he witnessed a signed contract, he signed as μαΐστρος Μένεγος Θεοτοκόπουλος σγουράφος (master Menegos Teotokopoulos, painter) ^[d] .

Most scholars believe Theotokopoulos "a family almost certainly belonging to Greek Orthodoxy" ^[11] , however, some Catholic sources have objections ^[e] . It is alleged that El Greco, like many Greek scholars of science and art who emigrated to the Catholic regions of Europe , converted to Catholicism after leaving Crete and practiced Catholicism in Spain, where he described himself as a “pious Catholic” in his will. Nevertheless, the results of extensive archival research undertaken by scholars such as Nicholas Panayotakis, Pandelis Prevellakis and Maria Konstantudaki since the early 1960s clearly indicate that the El Greco family and its ancestors belonged to Greek Orthodoxy. His name is not mentioned in Catholic records of baptisms, and his uncle was an Orthodox priest ^[12] . Prevelakis goes even further, expressing doubts that El Greco generally practiced Catholicism ^[13] .

One of the most important works of his Cretan period was the icon “The Assumption of the Virgin”, painted shortly before his departure in 1567, made by tempera and gilding on a tree, it combines post-Byzantine and Italian mannerist stylistic and iconographic elements, and also includes stylistic elements Cretan school . Among other works that relate to his work, it is necessary to mention the " ", "St. Luke, painting the Virgin and Child "and" Adoration of the Magi " ^[14] . In 1563, at the age of 22, El Greco was already a master of the local art guild, presumably at the head of his own workshop ^[15] . A few years later he went to Venice and never returned to Crete.

Italy

Since Crete from 1211 belonged to the possessions of Venice, it was quite natural for the young El Greco to continue his career there ^[4] . The exact date of his move is unknown, most scholars believe that this happened around 1567 ^[f] . Information about his stay in Italy is rather scarce. He lived there until 1570, and, according to his letter to his friend Giulio Clovio , a famous miniaturist, was a member of “the followers” ​​of Titian, still energetic, despite his age over 80 years old. This may mean that he worked in the workshop of Titian , or maybe not. Clovio characterized El Greco as an “artist of rare talent” ^[16] .

In 1570, El Greco went to Rome, where he wrote several works in which his apprenticeship in Venice was clearly manifested ^[16] . It is not known how long he stayed in Rome, according to some reports he returned to Venice (approx. 1575-1576) before his departure to Spain ^[17] . In Rome, on the recommendation of Giulio Clovio ^[18], he was received at the Palazzo Farnese , where Cardinal Alessandro Farnese created a center for the artistic and intellectual life of the city. There El Greco got acquainted with the intellectual elite of the city, including the scientist Fulvio Orsini , whose collection of paintings was subsequently enriched with seven paintings by El Greco, among which were “View of Mount Sinai” and a portrait of Giulio Clovio ^[19] .

Unlike other Cretan artists who came to Venice, El Greco substantially changed his style and tried to express himself by inventing new and unusual interpretations of traditional religious subjects ^[20] . The works of his Italian period were written under the influence of the style of the Venetian Renaissance - elongated figures reminiscent of the work of Tintoretto , and a colorful chromatic scale that combines it with Titian ^[4] . Venetian masters taught him how to organize a multi-figure composition surrounded by bright light. Clovio writes that when he visited El Greco one summer day, he found an artist in a dark room, he explained that darkness is more favorable for reflection than daylight, which interferes with his “inner light” ^[21] . Staying in Rome brought into the El Greco style elements of Mannerism - a bizarre perspective, tense poses and violent gestures ^[16] .

By the time El Greco arrived in Rome, Michelangelo and Raphael had already left this world, but they were still role models for young artists. El Greco was determined to leave his own mark in Rome, defending his artistic views, ideas and style ^[22] . He praised Correggio and Parmigianino ^[23] , but did not hesitate to criticize Michelangelo's “ Last Judgment ” in the Sistine Chapel ^[g] , and even invited Pope Pius V to completely redraw the fresco, in accordance with new, more stringent Catholic views ^[24] . When he was later asked what he thinks of Michelangelo, El Greco replied “he was a good man, but he was completely unable to draw” ^[25] . Paradox - criticizing and condemning Michelangelo, El Greco discovered that he could not escape his influence ^[26] . It can be seen in later works of the artist, such as, for example, “The Adoration of the Name of Christ ” ^[27] . Using the images of famous artists (Michelangelo, Titian, Clovio and, presumably, Raphael) in his work “Christ expels merchants from the temple,” El Greco not only paid tribute to recognized masters, but also proclaimed his intention to compete with them. As his own words show, El Greco considered Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael role models ^[24] . In his 17th Century Chronicles, Giulio Mancini places El Greco among the artists who began re-evaluating Michelangelo’s views ^[28] .

Due to his unconventional artistic views (for example, Michelangelo’s neglect) and personal qualities, El Greco quickly gained numerous enemies in Rome. The architect Pirro Ligorio called him “a stupid foreigner”, and recently discovered archival materials reflect a quarrel with Farnese, who drove the artist out of his palace ^[28] . On June 6, 1572, El Greco formally complained about it. A few months later, on September 18, 1572, El Greco paid a membership fee to the Roman Guild of St. Luke as a miniature painter ^[29] . At the end of the year, he opened his own workshop and hired artists Latancio Bonastri de Lucignano and Francisco Prebost as assistants to the artists ^[28] .

Spain

Moving to Toledo

In 1577, El Greco went to Madrid, and from there to Toledo, where he subsequently wrote his main works ^[30] . At that time, Toledo was the religious capital of Spain and a populous city ^[h] “with a glorified past, a prosperous present and an uncertain future” ^[31] . In Rome, El Greco earned the respect of some intellectuals, but also encountered the hostility of critics ^[32] . In the period of the 1570s, the King of Spain, Philip II, built the Escorial monastery and palace, and, looking for craftsmen to work on the interior, he encountered considerable difficulties. Titian had already died by then, Tintoretto , Paolo Veronese and Antonis More refused to go to Spain. Philip was forced to turn to the less talented Juan Fernandez de Navarret , whose gravedad y decoro (“seriousness and decency ”) was approved by the king. However, in 1579, Fernandez died; the moment for El Greco was perfect ^[33] .

Clovio and Orsini brought El Greco to Benito Montano , the theologian and associate of Philip; the scientists Pedro Chacon and Luis de Castilla, son of Diego de Castilla, rector of the Cathedral of Toledo ^[34] . A good relationship with the Castilla family would bring El Greco large work orders in Toledo. He arrived in Toledo in July 1577 and signed a contract for nine works to decorate the monastery of St. Dominic and for the “ Clothing Combination with Christ ” for the sacristy of the Cathedral of Toledo ^[35] . By September 1579, he had completed all nine works for the monastery, including The Trinity and The Ascension of the Virgin Mary. These works made up the El Greco name in Toledo ^[29] .

El Greco was not going to stay in Toledo, his goal was to get to the court of Philip II ^[36] . He managed to get two important royal orders - “The Adoration of the Name of Christ” (“Vision of Philip II: Allegory of the Holy League”) and “Martyrdom of St. Mauritius”. However, the king did not like the work, he ordered that Saint Mauritius be placed in the assembly hall instead of a chapel and did not order anything from El Greco ^[37] . The reasons for the dissatisfaction of the king remained unknown. Some scholars believe that Philip did not approve of the image of contemporaries in a religious plot ^[37] , while others believe that El Greco's works violated the basic rule of the Counter-Reformation on the primacy of image content over style ^[38] . Philip showed a keen interest in fulfilling his artistic orders and had a discerning taste; the long-awaited crucifix of Benvenuto Cellini's work also did not satisfy the king and was sent to a less visible place. Philip's next attempt, with Federico Zuccharo, was even less successful ^[39] . One way or another, Philip's discontent put an end to all El Greco's hopes for royal protection ^[29] .

Maturity and later years

Not having achieved the location of the king, El Greco was forced to stay in Toledo, where he was adopted as a great artist ^[40] . According to Ortensio Paravisino , a poet and preacher, “Crete gave him the life and craft of an artist, and Toledo became his new homeland, where after death he achieved eternal life” ^[41] . In 1585, El Greco hired an assistant Francisco Prebost and founded a workshop in which, in addition to paintings, altar frames and statues can be made ^[42] . March 12, 1586 El Greco received an order for the painting " Burial of Count Orgas ", which later became one of his most famous works ^[43] .

The decade between 1597 and 1607 was a period of hard work for El Greco. At that time, he received several large orders and his workshop was engaged in the creation of paintings and sculptural ensembles for various religious institutions. Among the major works of that time, it is necessary to mention the three altars for the chapel of San Jose in Toledo (1597-1599); three canvases (1596-1600) for the altar of the church of the college of Mary of Aragon in Madrid; the main and side altars, as well as the canvas "Saint Ildefons of Toledo" for the church of the Hospital of Mercy in Illescas (1603-1605) ^[4] . In the acceptance report on the canvas “The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary” (1607-1613), compiled by the workers of the municipality, El Greco is described as “one of the greatest people in the kingdom and beyond” ^[44] .

Between 1607 and 1608, El Greco was involved in a lengthy lawsuit with the Mercy Hospital in Illescas because of the payment for his works, picturesque sculptural and architectural ^[i] ; this and other lawsuits caused monetary difficulties that El Greco faced at the end of his life ^[45] . In 1608, El Greco received his last major order: the Hospital of John the Baptist in Toledo ^[29] .

El Greco made Toledo his home. From documents that have reached us, it is clear that since 1585 he rented a 24-room complex from the Dukes of Escalon , which served as his home and workshop until the end of his life ^[46] . He lived in a big way, sometimes even hiring musicians to play while he dines. It is not known whether he lived with his Spanish girlfriend, Jerome de Las Cuevas, with whom they were not married, although she gave birth to his only son. Jorge Manuel Teotokopuli was born in 1578, also became an artist, helped his father in the studio and continued to repeat his compositions for many years after he inherited the studio. ^[j] In 1604, a son, grandson of El Greco, was born to Jorge Manuel and Alfonso de Los Morales, Gregorio Angulo, the governor of Toledo and a friend of El Greco became his godmother ^[45] .

Во время работы над заказом госпиталя Тавера Эль Греко серьёзно заболел и, месяц спустя, 7 апреля 1614 года скончался. Несколькими днями ранее, 31 марта, он написал завещание и назначил сына душеприказчиком. Это засвидетельствовали два его друга грека (Эль Греко никогда не терял связи с родиной) ^[47] .Он был похоронен в монастыре Санто-Доминго-эль-Антигуо ^[48] .

Техника и стиль

Основным принципом стиля Эль Греко был примат воображения и интуиции над субъективным характером творения ^[25] . Эль Греко отбросил критерии классицизма, такие как меры и пропорции. Он считал, что благодать является высшим предметом поиска искусства, но художник достигает благодати только тогда, когда ему удаётся решать самые сложные проблемы с очевидной лёгкостью ^[25] .

Эль Греко считал цвет важнейшим и наиболее неуправляемым элементом живописи и заявлял о первенстве цвета перед формой ^[25] . Франсиско Пачеко , художник и теоретик искусства, посетивший Эль Греко в 1611 году осудил эту идею, а также его манеру письма широким мазком ^[50] .

Историк искусства Макс Дворжак был первым учёным, связавшим творчество Эль Греко с маньеризмом и антинатурализмом ^[51] . Современные исследователи характеризуют воззрения Эль Греко, как «типично маньеристские» и считают их источником неоплатонизм Ренессанса ^[52] . Джонатан Браун полагает, что Эль Греко пытался создать утончённую форму искусства ^[53] , согласно Николасу Пенни «в Испании Эль Греко мог создать свой собственный стиль — отрицающий большинство описательных стремлений живописи» ^[54] .

В своих поздних работах Эль Греко демонстрировал характерную тенденцию драматизировать, а не описывать ^[4] . Согласно Пачеко, беспокойность, неистовость и иногда кажущаяся небрежность манеры Эль Греко были связаны с обдуманными усилиями достичь свободы стиля ^[50] . Приверженность Эль Греко к исключительно длинным и тонким фигурам, а также к удлинённым композициям, служившая и его целям выражения и эстетическим принципам, привела его к отбрасыванию законов природы и ещё большему удлинению композиций, особенно когда они были предназначены для украшения алтаря ^[55] . Анатомия человеческих тел в поздних работах Эль Греко стала более потусторонней, работая над «Непорочным зачатием Девы Марии», Эль Греко попросил удлинить место под картину на 46 см, «чтобы форма была совершенной и избежала урезания, худшей вещи, могущей случиться с фигурой». Существенным новшеством поздних работ Эль Греко стало переплетение формы и пространства, развитые взаимоотношения между двумя составляющими живописной поверхности. Это переплетение возродилось три столетия спустя в работах Сезанна и Пикассо ^[55] .

Другой особенностью зрелого стиля Эль Греко является использование света. Как отмечает Джонатан Браун, «кажется, что каждая фигура содержит собственный свет внутри либо отражает свет от незримого источника» ^[56] . Фернандо Мариас и Агустин Бустаманте Гарсиа, учёные, расшифровывавшие рукописные заметки Эль Греко, связывают силу, придаваемую свету художником, с идеями, лежащими в основе христианского неоплатонизма ^[57] .

Современные научные исследования выделяют важность Толедо для полного развития зрелого стиля Эль Греко и подчёркивают способность живописца приспосабливать свой стиль к окружению ^[58] . Гарольд Уэтей отмечает, что «несмотря на греческое происхождение и художественную подготовку в Италии, художник настолько погрузился в религиозную среду Испании, что стал виднейшим представителем испанского мистицизма». Он считает, что поздние работы Эль Греко «отражают дух римско-католической Испании в период Контрреформации» ^[4] .

Эль Греко также был превосходным портретистом, способным не только запечатлеть черты лица натурщика, но и передать его характер ^[59] . Его портреты не так многочисленны, как религиозные картины, но не уступают им по уровню. Уэтей замечает, что «с помощью простых средств художник создал запоминающиеся образы, что помещает его на высочайшее место среди портретистов, вместе с Тицианом и Рембрандтом» ^[4] .

Материалы

Для своих работ Эль Греко использовал тонкий холст и масло средней вязкости ^[60] , а также обычные пигменты того периода, такие как азурит , киноварь , крапп , охра и сурик , изредка дорогой в то время ультрамарин ^[61] .

Предполагаемые византийские корни

Since the beginning of the 20th century, scientists have been arguing about the Byzantine roots of the El Greco style. Some art historians insisted that the origins of El Greco’s work lie entirely in Byzantine traditions and that its most characteristic features directly stem from the art of his ancestors ^[62] , while others argued that the Byzantine style was in no way connected with the artist’s work ^[63] .

The discovery of the “Assumption of the Virgin” in Syros, genuine and signed work from the Cretan period of the artist, as well as extensive archival research in the early 1960s contributed to the revival and revaluation of these theories. Despite following the Byzantine icon-painting tradition, some aspects of the style indicate Venetian influence, and the composition combines the doctrines of the Orthodox Assumption of the Virgin and the Catholic Ascension of the Virgin Mary ^[64] . In notable scientific works of the second half of the 20th century devoted to El Greco, many interpretations of his work, as well as his alleged Byzantineism, were reassessed ^[65] . Based on their own notes by El Greco, his unique style and the use of Greek letters in the signature, the authors of these works indicate an inextricable organic connection between the Byzantine tradition and the work of El Greco ^[66] . Marina Lambraki-Plaka observes: “far from the influence of Italy, in a neutral place intellectually similar to his homeland, Candia, the Byzantine elements of his artistic education played the role of a catalyst for the emergence of a new concept of imagery, presented in the artist’s later works” ^[67] . Oxford professors Cyril Mango and Elizabeth Jeffries object to her, arguing that “despite claims to the contrary, the only Byzantine element of his famous paintings is the signature in Greek letters” ^[68] . Nikos Hadzhinikolau expresses the point of view that “since 1570, the work of El Greco does not belong to the Byzantine or post-Byzantine tradition, but the Western European. The works created in Italy belong to the Italian history of art, and those that were written in Spain belong to Spanish history ” ^[69] .

British art historian David Davis traces the roots of the El Greco style in his Greek Christian education and recollections of the liturgical and ceremonial aspects of the Orthodox Church. Davis believes that the religious environment of the Counter-Reformation and the aesthetics of Mannerism became the impetus that led to the emergence of the individual style of El Greco. He argues that the keys to understanding El Greco’s work lie in the philosophy of Plato and Neoplatonism, the writings of Plotinus and the pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite , as well as the writings of the fathers of the church ^[70] . Summarizing, José Alvarez Lopera, curator of the Prado Museum, noted that the presence of “Byzantine motifs” in El Greco’s late work is quite obvious, but some obscure points regarding the Byzantine origins of his work require further investigation ^[71] .

Sculpture and Architecture

El Greco was known not only as a painter, but also as an architect and sculptor ^[72] . Usually he designed the whole altar composition, which included picturesque sculptural and architectural works, such as for the Mercy Hospital. He designed the decoration of the chapel of the hospital, but the wooden altar and sculptures he created were apparently lost ^[73] . Working on the “ Concentration of clothes with Christ ”, he created a special altar made of gilded wood, which was subsequently destroyed, with the exception of a small sculptural group at the bottom of the central part, depicting the miracle of St. Ildefonso ^[4] .

His most notable architectural achievement was the church of the monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, for which he also created paintings and sculptures ^[75] . El Greco refers to artists who included architecture in their paintings ^[76] . Pacheco described him as "a poet of painting, sculpture and architecture" ^[25] .

In the notes left on the margins of the publication of the ancient Vitruvius treatise on architecture, El Greco condemns Vitruvius' attachment to classical proportions, perspective and mathematics. He also believed that Vitruvius' manner of distorting proportions in order to compensate for the distance to the observer gives rise to monstrous forms. El Greco disgusted the very idea of ​​rules in architecture, above all, he respected the freedom of creativity and strongly advocated novelty, diversity and complexity. However, these ideas went far beyond the perception of contemporaries and did not find a response ^[76] .

Posthumous criticism

The works of El Greco were neglected for several generations after his death because of their obvious opposition to the principles of the early Baroque , which at the beginning of the 17th century came to the fore and crowded out the last traces of 16th-century mannerism ^[4] . El Greco was considered incomprehensible and did not have significant followers ^[77] . Only his son and several unknown artists made pale copies of his work. Spanish commentators of the 17th-early 18th centuries praised his skill, but criticized the anti-naturalistic style and complex iconography. Some of these commentators, such as Antonio Palomino and Juan Augustine Sean Bermudez, called his later works “ridiculous” and “worthy of contempt.” ^[78] The point of view of Palomino and Bermudez is often repeated in Spanish historiography, adorned with such epithets as “strange”, “original” and “eccentric” ^[79] . The phrase "deep eccentricity", often found in similar texts, over time turned into "insanity."

With the advent of the era of romanticism at the end of the 18th century, El Greco’s works were again discussed ^[77] . According to the French writer Theophilus Gauthier , El Greco was the forerunner of the European romantic movement in all its thirst for the strange and extreme ^[80] . Gauthier considered El Greco to be an ideal romantic hero (“gifted”, “misunderstood”, “crazy”), and was the first to express his admiration for the later technique of El Greco ^[79] . French art historians Zachariah Arstruck and Paul Lefort contributed to a widespread revival of interest in his paintings. In the 1890s, Spanish artists living in Paris accepted him as their mentor ^[80] . However, in the English language, he remained a man who "painted the horrors in Escorial" according to the " Cyclopedia " by Efraim Chambers in 1899 ^[81] .

In 1908, the Spanish art historian Manuel Bartolome Cossio published the first comprehensive catalog of El Greco's works; in the book, El Greco was introduced as the founder of the Spanish school ^[82] . In the same year, Julian Meyer-Grefe, a researcher of French impressionism, came to Spain, intending to study Velazquez, but was suddenly carried away by El Greco, he described his impressions in the book "Spanish Diary", in which El Greco is presented as a great artist ^[83] . In the works of El Greco Meyer-Gref found an omen of the present ^[84] . Meyer-Grefe described the influence of El Greco on the art of his time with these words:

The English artist and critic Roger Fry in 1920 noted that El Greco was an archetypal genius who created "with complete indifference to the impact his expression could have on the public." Fry described El Greco as “an old master who is not just modern, but actually turns out to be many steps ahead of us, turning back to show us the way” ^[23] .

In the same period, other researchers proposed alternative, more radical theories. Ophthalmologists August Goldschmidt and Herman Beritens insisted that the elongated human figures in El Greco's works were caused by his vision problems (probably progressive astigmatism and squint ), which made him see bodies longer than they were, and at an angle to the perpendicular ^{[86] [l ]} . Physician Arturo Perrera linked El Greco's style with marijuana use ^[87] . Michael Kimmelman, a columnist for The New York Times , noted that "for the Greeks, El Greco became the quintessential Greek painter, for the Spaniards - the quintessential Spanish" ^[23] .

As the fundraising campaign conducted by the Athenian National Gallery of Art in 1995 to buy El Greco's “The Holy Apostle Peter” showed that El Greco’s work is revered not only by experts and connoisseurs of art, but also by ordinary people: $ 1.2 million was collected and the painting was purchased for the gallery ^[88] . Summing up the general opinion about the influence of El Greco, James Carter in April 1980 noted that El Greco was “the most unusual artist of the time” and that “he was three to four centuries ahead of his time” ^[80] .

Influence on other artists

Views on the work of El Greco were reviewed not only by scientists. According to Efi Fondulaki, “artists and theorists from the beginning of the 20th century“ discovered ”the new El Greco, but in the process they also discovered and showed themselves” ^[89] . The expressiveness and color scheme of El Greco influenced Eugene Delacroix and Edouard Manet ^[90] . According to the Munich Blue Horseman art group, in 1912, El Greco felt in the universe its mystical-immanent construction, which became a great problem for the modern generation ^[91] . The first artist who seems to have noticed the structural code in the morphology of the late El Greco was Paul Cezanne , one of the forerunners of Cubism ^[77] . A comparative morphological analysis of the two artists showed their common elements, such as distortion of the human body, reddish and (only outwardly) unprocessed backgrounds and similarities in the visualization of space ^[92] . According to J. Brown, “Cezanne and El Greco are god brothers, despite centuries separating them” ^[93] . Fry noticed that Cezanne used “his [El Greco] great discovery of the penetration of a single and continuous plastic theme into every part of the design” ^[94] .

The Symbolists and Picasso in their Blue Period used cold colors and the ascetic anatomy of El Greco figures. While working on Avignon Maidens , Picasso visited his friend Ignacio Zuloaga’s Parisian studio and studied El Greco's painting “ Removing the Fifth Seal ” (which he acquired in 1897) ^[95] . The connection between the Avignon Maidens and the Opening of the Fifth Seal was revealed in the early 1980s, when the stylistic similarities and the relationship between the motives of both works were analyzed ^[96] .

Picasso's early cubist samples were supposed to reveal other aspects in El Greco's work: a structural analysis of his compositions, multifaceted refraction of form, interweaving of form and space, and special effects of glare. Some features of cubism, such as distortion and the materialistic representation of time, have their analogues in the works of El Greco. According to Picasso, the essence of El Greco is cubist ^[97] . February 22, 1950, Picasso began a series of "imitations" of other masters with the painting "Portrait of the Artist, in Imitation of El Greco" ^[98] . Fondulaki claims that Picasso “completed ... the process of activating El Greco's paintings, which was started by Manet and continued by Cezanne” ^[99] .

The expressionists focused on expressive distortions of El Greco. According to Franz Mark , one of the leading artists of German expressionism, “we are pleased and persistent in the case of El Greco, because the fame of this artist is closely connected with the evolution of our new ideas about art” ^[100] . Jackson Pollock , one of the founders of abstract expressionism , was also influenced by El Greco. By 1943, Pollock completed sixty drawings by El Greco, and in his library there were three books dedicated to the Cretan master ^[101] .

Contemporary artists have also been inspired by El Greco art. Kiza Johnson used the paintings of the Immaculate Conception of El Greco's work as a compositional basis for some of her works, and the anatomical distortions of the master were reflected in the portraits of Fritz Chesnat ^[102] .

The personality and work of El Greco were an inspiration to poet Rainer Maria Rilke . One of his poems (Himmelfahrt Mariae I.II., 1913) was based directly on the "Immaculate Conception" by El Greco ^[103] . The Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis , who felt a great spiritual affinity for El Greco, called his autobiography “Report to El Greco”, paying tribute to the Cretan artist ^[104] .

In 1998, the Greek composer Vangelis released the El Greco symphony album, which was the development of the earlier Foros Timis Ston Greco album ( Tribute to El Greco ). The life of the Cretan artist became the theme of the film " ", a joint Greek, Spanish and British production. Filming began in October 2006, a year later the film was released ^[105] . The director was Yannis Smaragdis , the main role was played by the British actor Nick Ashdon ^[106] .

The exact number of El Greco's works has been a highly controversial subject. In 1937, art historian Rodolfo Paluccini published an important study, which entailed a significant increase in the number of works attributed to El Greco. Paluccini attributed to El Greco a small triptych, stored in the gallery d'Este in Modena. The basis for this was the signature of the master on the back of the central panel of the Modena triptych ( Χείρ Δομήνιχου , "created by the hand of Domenicos") ^[107] . There was consensus that the triptych was indeed an early work of El Greco, and therefore the publication of Palluchini became the criterion for attributing the artist's works ^[108] . However, Harold Uthei denied the authorship of the Modena triptych and in 1962 released a catalog-reason with a significantly reduced base of work. While art historian Jose Camon Aznar attributes from 787 to 829 paintings to the Cretan master, Waetey reduced their number to 285 genuine works, and German researcher of Spanish art Haldor Siner recognized only 137 ^[109] . Uthei and other scholars rejected the view that Crete took any part in its formation and supported the exclusion of a number of works from the El Greco list of works ^[110] .

С 1962 года обнаружение «Успения Богородицы» и обширные архивные исследования постепенно убедили учёных в том, что оценки Уэтея не совсем корректны и что его воззрения могут исказить восприятие всей природы происхождения, развития и творчества Эль Греко. Обнаружение «Успения» привело к атрибуции трёх других подписанных «Doménicos» произведений к Эль Греко (Моденский триптих, «Св. Лука, рисующий Богоматерь с Младенцем», и «Поклонение волхвов»), а затем к признанию аутентичными ещё большего количества работ, подписанных и нет (например, «Страсти Христовы» (Pietà with Angels), написанная в 1566 году)) ^[111] , которые были включены в группу ранних произведений Эль Греко. Эль Греко теперь рассматривается как художник, сформировавшийся на Крите; ряд работ пролил свет на его ранний стиль, некоторые из них были написаны в то время, когда он все ещё был на Крите, некоторые во время его венецианского периода, а некоторые во время его последующего пребывания в Риме ^[65] . Даже Уэтей признал, что «он [Эль Греко], вероятно, написал маленький спорный триптих из галереи д'Эсте в Модене, прежде чем покинул Крит» ^[112] .Тем не менее, споры о точном количестве аутентичных произведений Эль Греко не утихают, и в основе этих разногласий лежит статус резоне Уэтея ^[113] .

Эль Греко приписывают и несколько скульптур, в том числе «Эпиметей и Пандора». Эта сомнительная атрибуция основана на показаниях Пачеко (он видел в студии Эль Греко ряд фигурок, но это могли быть только модели). Среди сохранившихся произведений Эль Греко есть также четыре рисунка; три из них являются подготовительными работами для алтаря Санто-Доминго-эль-Антигуо, а четвёртый — исследование для его картины «Распятие» ^[114] .

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