Domenikos Theotocopoulos, known as El Greco (1541-1614)
El Greco, meaning the Greek, was born in Candia on Crete in 1561. He left the isle at an early age for Venice where he was greatly influenced by Titian , Veronese and Tintoretto. He then moved to Rome where Michelangelo and the Mannerists made an impact on his work. He settled in Toledo, Spain, in around 1577 and developed his own personality as a mystical and visionary painter. His repertoire rarely included profane themes, except for portraits and landscapes, and we worked primarily for Philip II and religious orders. At the end of his career , his style increased in pathos and became more personal with unusual forms and colours. A loner who had no pupils, El Greco is considered one of the last Mannerists before the emergence of the Golden Age of the 17th century.
