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Doménikos Theotokópoulos called El Greco Candia 1541 – Toledo 1614
Saint Francis of Assisi
Oil on canvas signed ‘δομήνικος θεοτοκόπουλος/ έποίει’
101 x 89 cm It is not not for nothing that superlatives abound when referring to El Greco and his art The Cretan-born icon-painter followed many paths before nally settling in in in Toledo Spain where he he he lived for for the rest of of his life and where he he he executed some of of the most powerful and and abstract pictures of the late 16th and and early 17th centuries Greco’s style could be be broadly described as mannerist with clear debts to Byzantine Venetian and Roman art also being evident With this sensational canvas of Saint Francis Greco displayed his his rejection of of naturalism and his adoption of of elongated twisting forms exaggerated facial features bold brushstrokes and intensely surreal backgrounds The result of of this con agration of of elements is is an an image intended to inspire an an intensely spiritual experience in in in in the onlooker much in in the same way that Byzantine icons did Greco’s work has often been called modernist and ahead of of its time which may simply be convenient terminology to categorise his ardour and and energy But the impact of his work and and in particular this Saint Francis must surely be the the bold abstraction of the the form which transcends time style and subject matter Acquired by a a a private European collector
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