Author Description

Publisher's description: A much anticipated, wide-ranging survey of works by one of the world's greatest artists. El Greco (1541-1614), born Domenikos Theotokopoulos, was one of the most fascinating and distinctive artists of the sixteenth century. His works are immediately recognizable for their brilliant colors, elongated figures, and spiritual intensity. Initially trained in Crete, in around 1567 El Greco moved to Italy where he purportedly studied with Titian. A decade later he is documented in Toledo (south of Madrid), and he spent the rest of his long life in Spain. His paintings and writings offer a thoughtful, frequently inspired response to the varied environments in which he worked--and they reveal that he was deeply engaged with the religious and artistic thinking of his times. This lavishly illustrated book--the first comprehensive English-language publication on El Greco in many years--addresses the full range of the artist's work in painting and sculpture, from his Byzantine icons to his late altarpieces. It considers his personality from both a religious and intellectual point of view, and presents the artist's religious, mythological, genre, landscape, and portrait works, providing the historical context in which they were made. El Greco is the catalogue for an exhibition organized jointly by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the National Gallery, London. The exhibition opens in New York in October 2003, and moves to London in February 2004.