Who was El Greco?
The painter Doménikos Theotokópoulos, better known by his spanish name El Greco ( The Greek ), is considered by many to be one of the greatest painters in the history of European art. Relatively little, however, is known about his personal history, particularly the first 25 years or so following his birth in 1541 in Crete. He apparently descended from a wealthy and socially prominent family and early in his career received training in the Byzantine style of painting. This style is concerned with religious expression and more specifically the impersonal presentation of church theology in artistic terms. His Venetian citizenship (Crete was under the control of Venice) allowed El Greco at age 27 to begin the study of painting in Italy. He studied with Titian, who was considered one of the greatest painters of the time and El Greco adopted in his work the Venetian features of bright colours, movement, and dramatic light. For a short period of time, El Greco lived in Rome where he was expos