El Greco
El Greco (1541-1614) was born in Crete under the civil name Dominikos Theotokopoulos. The artist known as "El Greco" (Spanish: "the Greek") because of his origins was one of the most outstanding painters of the Late Renaissance and Mannerism.
In Italy, he worked in the studio of Tizian and received important inspiration from Tintoretto. In Rome, he encountered the works of Michelangelo. In the Spanish city of Toledo, he became court painter to Philipp II. and maintained a large workshop.
With his progressive painting, El Greco was far ahead of his time: He combined Greek-Byzantine influences with Mannerism, thereby giving Renaissance art a reinterpretation towards the visionary and immaterial. He painted his figures elongated, slender and fine-limbed against backgrounds from which individual colours shine brightly.
