Doménikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. El Greco was a nickname, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters often adding the word Κρής, which means "Cretan" in Ancient Greek.
The Spanish Golden Age was a period that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish Habsburgs. This era saw a flourishing of literature and the arts in Spain. The most significant patron of Spanish art and culture during this time was King Philip II (1556–1598). However, the period is more broadly associated with the reigns of Isabella I, Ferdinand II, Charles V, Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV, when Spain was at the peak of its power and influence in Europe and the world.
Adoration of the Shepherds is the name of numerous paintings depicting an episode in the story of Jesus's nativity in which shepherds are near witnesses to his birth in Bethlehem, arriving soon after he is actually born. The episode is recounted, or at least implied, in the Gospel of Luke and follows on from the annunciation to the shepherds, in which the shepherds are summoned by an angel to the scene of the birth. Like the episode preceding it, the adoration is a common subject in art, where it is often combined with the Adoration of the Magi. In such cases it is typically just referred to by the latter title.
Alonso Sánchez Coello was an Iberian portrait painter of the Spanish and Portuguese Renaissance. He is mainly known for his portrait paintings executed in a style which combines the objectivity of the Flemish tradition with the sensuality of Venetian painting. He was court painter to Philip II.
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz is a 1586 painting by El Greco, a prominent Renaissance painter, sculptor, and architect of Greek origin. Widely considered among his finest works, it illustrates a popular local legend of his time. An exceptionally large painting, it is divided into two sections, heavenly above and terrestrial below, but it gives little impression of duality, since the upper and lower sections are brought together compositionally.
Friar Juan Bautista Maíno, or Mayno was a Spanish Baroque painter.
Philip II of Spain has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries, as the most powerful ruler in the Europe of his day, and subsequently a central figure in the "Black Legend" of Spanish power. The following list covers representations of him in drama, opera, film, novels, and verse. A small selection of the many artistic portrayals of Philip is shown in gallery form.
The Modena Triptych is 1568 triptych by the artist El Greco, who was also known as Doménikos Theotokópoulos.
The Entombment is a 1559 oil-on-canvas painting by the Venetian painter Titian, commissioned by Philip II of Spain. It depicts the burial of Jesus in a stone sarcophagus, which is decorated with depictions of Cain and Abel and the binding of Isaac. The painting measures 137 cm × 175 cm and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Titian made several other paintings depicting the same subject, including a similar version of 1572 given as a gift to Antonio Pérez and now also in the Prado, and an earlier version of c.1520 made for the Duke of Mantua and now in the Louvre.
The Doña María de Aragón Altarpiece was an altarpiece painted between 1596 and 1599 by El Greco for the chapel of the Colegio de la Encarnación in Madrid. The college was secularised during Goya's lifetime and the altarpiece was dismantled. There has been much speculation over which paintings belonged to the work. The consensus view is that it consisted of six large canvases and a seventh, now lost. Five of those six canvases are now in the Prado and the sixth is in the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest.
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a painting of the traditional subject which was painted by El Greco in 1596. It is in the European painting collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania. This unusually tall painting is a work in the group of equally tall paintings which the artist made as part of his 1596 commission known as the Doña María de Aragón Altarpiece for the Colegio de Dona Maria de Aragón in a building that is now the location of Palacio del Senado in Madrid. El Greco's signature, in Greek, may be seen on the paper in the lower left corner.
The Immaculate Conception with Saint John the Evangelist is an oil painting on canvas of c. 1585 by El Greco, depicting the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception with Saint John the Evangelist.
The Adoration of the Magi is an oil painting executed ca. 1565–1567 by El Greco. It and his St Luke Painting the Madonna and Child are his most western works, with Adoration showing the particularly strong influence of Parmigianino at this time in his career. It may have been painted in Venice or elsewhere during his stay in Italy or for an Italian client living in the painter's native Crete, but this is debated. It is now in the Benaki Museum in Athens.
Annunciation is a 1570 painting by the Greek artist of the Spanish Renaissance El Greco, now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. According to the art historian José Álvarez Lopera, it derives from an engraving by Jacopo Caraglio.
Healing of the Man Born Blind is a painting of the healing of the man born blind by the Greek painter El Greco, produced in 1567 during his time in Venice. It is now in the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma, Italy.
The Fable is a 1580 allegorical painting by El Greco, produced early in his Toledan period and now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The Tears of Saint Peter or Penitent Saint Peter is a 1580-1589 painting by El Greco, now in the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, UK. It shows Peter the Apostle weeping after his betrayal of Jesus.
Saint Jerome is a 1609 painting by El Greco, now in the Frick Collection, New York.
Holy Face of Jesus is a 1586–1595 painting by El Greco of the Holy Face of Jesus on a veil. It is now in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid, which acquired it in 1944 using funds from a legacy from the conde de Cartagena.
