El Greco, "The Grave of Orgos Burial": description, interesting facts and reviews

Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541-1614) is a Spanish artist of Greek origin. In Spain, he received the nickname El Greco, that is, the Greek. Not a single portrait has survived, of which it can be said with certainty that this is El Greco. All of them are only hypothetical.

Some information about the artist

He was born on about. Crete and at first wrote Orthodox icons, which, undoubtedly, left an imprint on the style of his works. Then he studied in Italy, which at that time lost the harmony of the Renaissance and lost the connection between the spiritual and the physical.

At 35 he moved to the Iberian Peninsula. By this time his style was worked out. It was impossible to compare it with any painter, neither early nor late. He is the only, unique. There were no repetitions.

In Toledo, having lived ten years in Spain, El Greco will write a completely original and extraordinary work. This is the picture "The Burial of Count Orgas" (1586). The work was commissioned by the Church of Sao Tome, in which the painter himself was a parishioner. And the customer was made by his friend, the priest of this church Andres Nunez.

El Greco, "The Burial of Count Orgas": description of the painting

The plot of the ordered work is unusual. Don Ruiz himself Gonzalo de Toledo, Earl of Orgas, died in 1323. He made rich donations for the church, where he was buried, and after his death a legend about the miracle arose. A pious count, if you follow this story, the sobs that descended from heaven were lowered into the coffin. Augustine and St. Stephen. The record of this is carved on a stone slab, which is located under the picture. We are just beginning to describe the work "The Burial of the Count of Orgas", which has monumental dimensions. Its height is about five meters, and the width is close to four.

Composition of Heaven pictures

There is a suggestion that it is associated with the icon "The Assumption of the Virgin", which El Greco wrote about in 1567. The picture of the funeral of the Count is clearly divided into two zones, in each of which miracles occur. Below, in the earthly part, the body of the deceased Count is gently supported on the left by the young Saint Stephen in the vestments of the deacon, and to the right - Saint Augustine in the bishop's robes.

To the heavens through the expanding clouds, the soul of the graph, likened to an exhalation, is lifted by the angel, and there he is met by Jesus Christ, who is in the center of the image and is the apex and Light of the world, to the right of which is the figure of Our Lady, and to the left - John the Baptist. This group has the shape of an oval.

On the right, this line passes through two saints, just above John the Baptist and dressed in a bright orange cloak (Jacob) and a blue tunic (Paul). To the left of St. Peter with two keys does not fit into this oval. But Christ points to his hand to open the gate for the Count's soul. Ghost images of Cardinal Tavera and King Philip II are in the waves of the clouds. On the left is King David with a harp in his hand, Moses with the tables of the Covenant and Noah. The entire assembly of saints, righteous and martyrs, written surreal, disembodied, in the Byzantine style, is seen only by the priest, who looked up. This is how the funeral of Count Orgas in the world is accomplished.

Composition of the terrestrial world

If the upper part of the canvas takes the spirit to higher spheres, then the lower one is real enough. The sad burial of Count Orgas and his transition to another world are accompanied by quite real people - noblemen, clergy and monks (Dominicans and Franciscans). These are portraits of the artist's contemporaries.

On the right in the foreground, holding the prayer book, stands the priest Andres Nunez. We see him in profile. The second priest is dressed in a surplice, thin and transparent, which echoes the color with the top of the composition. It is he who connects the earthly and heavenly world, which he revealed to himself, and from which he does not take his eyes off. The boy-page is the son of the painter. He points to the spectator of the saints, who are not seen by the people taking part in the ceremony. The child connects the two worlds - the painted pictures and the outer, the real, the terrestrial. These two figures - the child and the priest - are key in the composition.

The burial of Count Orgas, who is accompanied by a miracle, is embraced by a unity that the Spanish nobles restrainedly experience. Their faces are externally impassive, but they all seem to be fenced off from the outside world with its temptations. Their experiences are expressed in refined pale faces with closed lips and restrained movements of their graceful hands. It is assumed that here are written not only real Toledo noblemen, but also El Greco himself. His face directly looks at the viewer. It is pointed to him by a raised hand above the head of St. Stefan.

There are no concrete places of action on the canvas. And the general light goes from nowhere, it is simply poured at the bottom of the picture. Even funeral torches do not cast off glint. The burial of Count Orgas El Greco performed in the form of an oval. It is made up of figures of saints. This is the compositional and color center of the lower part. In this case, with respect to the upper oval, it is shifted to the left. The images of saints themselves embody the highest spiritual beauty. So gradually described the picture of El Greco "The Burial of Count Orgas".

Coloring

It is all built on the solemn and mourning merge of black, silvery-gray and golden cold tones. There are red, black, blue and yellow accents. But even the golden garments of saints do not bear warmth. Coldly shining and torches, one of which almost touches the angel's wing in a cold yellow with greenish reflections of the apparel. It is as if inflated by the wind that raises it into the heavenly spheres. The whole of the transcendental world is filled with dense, but at the same time translucent, with hard edges, grayish-silvery clouds. They play a variety of shadows from black-gray to cold, tender-bluish.

Only the whitening figure of Jesus that extends into the golden depths, the large-scale John the Baptist and the scarlet dress with the blue cloak of Mary are highlighted. She puts her hand down, touches a translucent veil, in which the Count's soul is wrapped, and motherly meets her. So El Greco wrote "The Burial of Count Orgas". The description can not convey how the artist connected the real and sublime worlds in the picture.

How did contemporaries perceive the picture

The altar image, created by El Greco, delighted the inhabitants of Toledo. After all, the canvas tells of the mystery of crossing the threshold of death, that at that time man is not alone: he is helped by the redeemer Jesus Christ, his Mother, who is our Mother and all the saints in heaven are our elder brothers. Everyone came to admire the wonderful huge canvas, which recognized prominent citizens, aristocrats, priests. Even foreigners came to the city only to see this work.

The artist carefully thought out how to tie the canvas to the interior of a small church, and it is organically embedded in it. The glory of El Greco grew immensely. He was at her zenith. Other of his works were taken outside the city and Spain, and this never left the modest church, which was once rebuilt from the mosque after the final expulsion of the Moors. True, for a while the picture was filmed, and she was in the storerooms of the church. But then she was once again exposed. Now it is backlit, and it was blocked by a grate.

Interesting facts related to the picture

The canvas of El Greco "The Burial of the Count of Orgas", a description of which was given in the article, has several strange stories connected with it:

• Senor Orgas left a will after his death, according to which the inhabitants had to pay a tax for the improvement of the church. His will was not fulfilled. There was a court case, which ended with the receipt of money for the temple. Having them, the priesthood made an order for the painting of the artist El Greco.
• The painter received clear instructions on what exactly should be depicted: the very legend of the participation of saints in a mournful ceremony and portraits of famous townspeople. The canvas must completely cover one of the walls of the church. The master managed to do everything without constraining himself as a creator.
• Portraits depict not only local aristocrats, but also the parish priest, and the son of the artist, and presumably himself and members of the military-religious order (on their clothes there are red crosses).
• The picture was appreciated not only by contemporaries, but the artist himself considered it his highest achievement.
• The payment, however, did not correspond to either the artistic qualities or thoroughness of the detailed execution of the order and was low - only one thousand two hundred ducats.

Individual tourists who visited Toledo

Russian tourists unanimously admire the picture of El Greco. All unanimously say that to visit Toledo is worth only to see it. Note that many liked the very small church of Sao Tome, and the cathedral of St. Mary, and the fortress of Alcázar. They also say that photography is prohibited in the church, but in fact many have taken photographs.

You can see other works of the master in his house-museum.