El Greco

El Greco's paintings developed from his training as an icon painter in Crete and his study of Italian art before he settled in Toledo. Venetian color and dramatic figure arrangements helped shape his later sacred narratives, with elongated bodies and changes of light giving the figures a distinct presence. The Burial of the Count of Orgaz sets an earthly funeral below a vision of heaven, connecting the two registers through gesture and upward movement. His Adoration of the Shepherds concentrates figures and surrounding darkness around the Christ Child. In Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Francis, the two saints stand close to the foreground against heavy clouds, with John's chalice identifying a traditional episode in his life. Portraits apply a related attention to form and expression to individual sitters, alongside religious commissions associated with Toledo's churches and devotional life.