El Greco: Ambition and Defiance

Renowned for a singular artistic vision, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541-1614), developed his distinctive painting style as he assiduously pursued professional success. This fresh and engaging survey of El Greco`s work explores varied aspects of the artist`s career – his aesthetic education in Italy, the mixed reception of his mature works in Spain, his uncompromising approach to business, and the baroque logistics of his Toledo workshop – and reveals the depth of El Greco`s astounding ambition. The impressive volume focuses in particular on his 1577-79 altarpiece paintings for the Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo – among them the magnificent Assumption of the Virgin – which heralded the artist`s arrival in Spain after productive periods of formation and re-formation in Crete, Venice, and Rome. Lavishly illustrated and clothbound with gilded edges, this publication features reproductions and scholarly discussions of more than 60 works ranging from large-scale canvases to intimate panels, with essays that elucidate the motives and meanings behind the artist`s constantly changing and inventive approach.