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El Greco
Greek Mannerist painter
born 1541 - died 7 April 1614
Also known as: Domenikos Theotokopoulos. GRECO, EL, the name commonly
given to Domenikos Theotokopoulos (d. 1614), Cretan painter, architect
and sculptor. He was born in Crete, between 1545 and 1550, and announces
his Cretan origin by his signature in Greek letters on his most
important pictures, especially on the St Maurice in the Escorial. He
appears to have studied art first of all in Venice, and on arriving in
Rome in 1570 is described as having been a pupil of Titian, in a letter
written by the miniaturist, Giulio Clovio, addressed to Cardinal
Alessandro Farnesi, dated the 15th of November 1570.
In his own time he was exceedingly popular, and held in great repute.
Sonnets were written in his honor, and he is himself said to have
written several treatises, but these have not come down to our time. For
more than a generation his work was hardly known, but it is now gaining
rapidly in importance, and its true position is more and more
recognized. Some examples of the painters own handwriting have been
discovered in Toledo, and Señor Don Manuel Cossia of Madrid has spent
many years collecting information for a work dealing with the painter. -
(G. C. W.) |
