Adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus

Adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus
Artist	El Greco
Year	1577-1579
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	140 cm× 110 cm(55 in× 43 in)
Location	Royal Collections Gallery, Madrid

Adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus is a 1577-1579 oil on canvas painting by El Greco, produced early in his Toledo period. It is also known in modern scholarship as La Gloria, ^[1] The Dream of Philip II, or Allegory of the Holy League. ^[2] Originally held at El Escorial, ^[3] the piece has been in exhibition at the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid since its opening in 2023. ^[4]

Description

The piece depicts the nominal adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus. Beside Philip II, who likely had some part in commissioning the painting, ^[5] are Pope Pius V and doge Sebastiano Venier, founders of the Holy League, and Don John of Austria, victor of the battle of Lepanto, all kneeling and worshipping the Holy Name of Jesus in the upper register, where it is surrounded by angels. In the bottom right is a hell-mouth in the form of Leviathan, influenced by Hieronymus Bosch. The coloring also shows the influence of the Venetian school and Michelangelo on the artist.

Other versions

The National Gallery, London holds a preparatory sketch for it.

Legacy

Aldous Huxley's essay "Meditation on El Greco" interprets the leviathan in the bottom right of the painting as an (unintentional) autobiographical symbol. ^[6] Huxley likens the formal qualities of El Greco's later works to the innards of a whale stomach: for example, their cramped framing and coiled human figures. "So far as [El Greco] is concerned," he writes, "there is nothing outside the whale." ^[7]

See also

• List of works by El Greco

Citations

1. Troutman, El Greco, 31.
2. Puppi, El Greco, 30.
3. Troutman, El Greco, 31.
4. "La adoración del nombre de Jesús". La Galería de las Colecciones Reales@es|||. Retrieved 2025-08-09.
5. Puppi, El Greco, 18.
6. Huxley, Music at Night, 56.
7. Huxley, Music at Night, 65.

Bibliography

• Huxley, Aldous (1949). "Meditation on El Greco," Music at Night. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0701108096.
• Puppi, Lionello (1967). El Greco . Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 9788431005528.
• Troutman, Philip (1963). El Greco . Marboro Books. ISBN 0600037703.