Self-Portrait (El Greco)

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Self-Portrait
El Greco - Portrait of a Man - WGA10554.jpg
Artist El Greco
Year1595-1600
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions52.7 cm× 46.7 cm(20.7 in× 18.4 in)
Location Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Accession24.197.1

Self-Portrait or Portrait of an Old Man is an oil-on-canvas painting by El Greco, likely dating to between 1595 and 1600. The work's distinction as a self-portrait has been widely debated by scholars for over a century. Identification as a self portrait is supported by the idea that the same figure appears several times in El Greco's oeuvre, aging alongside the artist. [1] Critics of this work's identification as a self-portrait point to a lack of evidence to positively identify it as such. It shows the influence of Titian and Tintoretto, whose works El Greco studied in Venice. [2] It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. [3]

Contents

Visual description

This painting takes the form of a half-length portrait. It depicts an older man against a brown background. The man is dressed in a coat and wears a ruffle around his neck in a style that was popular in the 1590s. [3] His eyes are sunken into the face and he has a receded hairline, features which communicate the advanced age of the subject.

Influences

El Greco was born on the island of Crete in Greece and was trained as a Christian icon painter. [4] This influence is shown in the empty monochromatic background of the portrait. He moved to Venice in 1567 where he studied and was influenced by the works of Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Bassano. [4] According to scholar Richard G. Mann, El Greco's later work was inspired by his time studying Venetian art. [5] Venetian influence can be seen in the use of loose brushwork on the coat and a lack of hard contour lines. [6]

Identity of figure

Scholarly debate

The identity of the sitter for this portrait has been debated by scholars since 1900.

Identification as a self portrait

Burial of the Count of Orgaz, by El Greco, detail. Burroughs argues for similarities between the self-portrait in this work and the appearance of the sitter in El Greco's alleged Self-Portrait. El Greco - The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (detail) - WGA10491.jpg
Burial of the Count of Orgaz, by El Greco, detail. Burroughs argues for similarities between the self-portrait in this work and the appearance of the sitter in El Greco's alleged Self-Portrait.

In 1900, this work was identified by Salvador Sanpere y Miguel for the first time in scholarly writing as a self portrait. [7] The argument that the work is indeed a self portrait, championed by Bryson Burroughs in 1925, claims that the figure in this work has appeared in several other paintings by El Greco, including The Disrobing of Christ" and "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz". [8] A major advancement for the argument that "Portrait of an Old Man" is a portrait of the artist is August L. Mayer's 1926 claim which links the work to the 1621 Inventory of the Possessions of El Greco's son Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli. Mayer alleges that this work can be identified as article number 189 of the inventory, which describes "a portrait of my father, with a black frame". [9] [10] In 1993, Fernando Marías linked this work to a different item in Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli's inventory, item number 258, described as a half-length self portrait of El Greco. [11] In his 2011 scholarly biography on the artist, Marías also described the painting as a self portrait. [12]

Arguments against identification as a self portrait

The first scholar to refute the identification as a self portrait was Paul Lafond in 1906, who cited a lack of evidence identifying the sitter as the artist himself. [13] Lafond himself, however, identified the painting as Portrait of El Greco? in his 1913 book on the artist, possibly as a reference to the ongoing academic debate surrounding the piece. [14] Elizabeth du Gué Trapier was the first scholar to refer to the painting as Portrait of an Old Man in 1925. [15] August L. Mayer's 1926 argument for identification as a self portrait was generally accepted by scholars until Harry B. Wehle's 1940 catalogue which points to a lack of evidence connecting the work to Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli's inventory. [16] Harold E. Wethey corroborated this argument in 1962, claiming that the sitter of the portrait does not resemble figures in other works by El Greco that are accepted by scholars to be self portraits. [17] Another theory, posited in 1992 by Deborah Krohn, claims that the subject of the portrait may have been a relative of El Greco's. This is due to due to visual similarities between the sitter and El Greco's son, Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli. [18]

Dating

Since the exact creation date for Portrait of an Old Man is unknown, and has also been widely debated by scholars. Scholarly debate surrounding the date of this portrait centers around the age of the sitter as well as the clothing worn by the subject.

Prospective dates for the portrait range from 1579 to 1610. [19] The earliest possible date for the work, as posited by José Gudiol, is 1579. [20] This interpretation for an early dating relies on the idea that the work is not a self portrait. In 1579, the artist would have only been 38, too young to paint himself as an old man. The most accepted date range for this work place it firmly in the 1590s. This date range is supported by the style of the ruffle worn by the subject. According to scholar Keith Christiansen, experts in Spanish dress of the era note that the width of the sitter's ruffle was popular in the fashion of the 1590s. [21] The latest possible date, 1610, was suggested by Paul Guinard. [22] This interpretation places the portrait's creation towards the end of the artist's career. Guinard's idea is supported by a trend in portraits of older individuals in which formal ruffles appear ten to fifteen years out of style. [23]

Provenance and exhibition history

Provenance

Exhibition history

This work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe and North America, and has more recently been exhibited in Japan.

This work has been widely circulated in the form of a Spanish postage stamp, created in 1965 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the artist’s death. [26]

See also

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Burroughs, Bryson (1925). "A Portrait by El Greco". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 20 (5): 122–124. doi:10.2307/3254764. ISSN   0026-1521.
  2. ↑ Christiansen, Authors: Keith. "El Greco (1541–1614) | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  3. 1 2 "Portrait of an Old Man". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 Christiansen, Keith. “El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541–1614).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grec/hd_grec.htm (October 2004)
  5. ↑ Mann, Richard G. (2002) "Delno C. West Award Winner: Tradition and Originality in El Greco’s Work: His Synthesis of Byzantine and Renaissance Conceptions of Art," Quidditas: Vol. 23, Article 7.
  6. ↑ "Smarthistory – El Greco, Burial of the Count Orgaz". smarthistory.org. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  7. ↑ Salvador Sanpere y Miguel. "Domenikos Theotokopoulos." Revista de la Asociación-Artístico-Arqueológica-Barcelonesa 4 (March–April 1900), pp. 394–95, ill.
  8. ↑ Bryson Burroughs. "A Portrait by El Greco." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20 (May 1925), pp. 122-24, ill.
  9. ↑ Marias, Fernando (2013). El Greco: Life and Work- A new History. United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson. p. 305. ISBN   978-0-500-09377-1.
  10. ↑ August L. Mayer. Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Munich, 1926, pp. xviii, 52, no. 329, pl. 90.
  11. ↑ Fernando Marías. "Reflexiones sobre una colección de pinturas de El Greco y la "Gloria de Felipe II"." Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte 5 (1993), pp. 61, 62, 70
  12. ↑ Fernando Marías. El Greco, Life and Work—A New History. London, 2013, p. 330
  13. ↑ Paul Lafond. "Domenikos Theotokopuli, dit Le Greco." Les arts 5 (October 1906), pp. 28, 30, ill.
  14. ↑ Paul Lafond. Le Greco. Paris, 1913, pp. 100, IX, pl. 1
  15. ↑ Elizabeth du Gué Trapier. El Greco. New York, 1925, pp. x, 50–52, 148, pl. XI (frontispiece)
  16. ↑ Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 229–30.
  17. ↑ Harold E. Wethey. El Greco and His School. Princeton, 1962, vol. 1, fig. 330; vol. 2, pp. 96–97, no. 156
  18. ↑ Deborah Krohn et al. in From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, pp. 12, 36–37, no. 3, ill.
  19. ↑ "El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) | Portrait of an Old Man". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  20. ↑ José Gudiol. El Greco, 1541–1614. New York, 1973.
  21. ↑ Keith Christiansen et al. in El Greco. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. London, 2003.
  22. ↑ Paul Guinard. El Greco: Biographical and Critical Study. [Lausanne?], [1956]
  23. ↑ "El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) | Portrait of an Old Man". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 “Provenance: El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos): Portrait of an Old Man.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed October 28, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436574#provenance.
  25. ↑ Salvador Sanpere y Miguel. "Domenikos Theotokopoulos." Revista de la Asociación-Artístico-Arqueológica-Barcelonesa 4 (March–April 1900), pp. 394–95, ill., as a self-portrait by El Greco in the collection of Aureliano Beruete.
  26. ↑ "Greece - Original Vintage Postage Stamps- 1965 - 350th Anniversary Death of El Greco". On the Ridge Stamps. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
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