Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/elgrecoaccountof00calv_0 THE SPANISH SERIES EL GRECO THE SPANISH SERIES Edited by ALBERT F. CALVERT Goya Toledo Madrid Seville Murillo Cordova El Greco Velazquez Cervantes The Prado The Escorial Royal Palaces of Spain Spanish Arms and Armour Granada and the Alhambra Leon, Burgos, and Salamanca Valladolid, Oviedo, Segovia, Zamora, Avila, and Zaragoza In preparation Galicia Sculpture in Spain Cities of Andalucia Murcia and Valencia Tapestries of the Royal Palace Catalonia and Balearic Islands Santander, Vizcaya, and Navarre EL GRECO AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS, BY ALBERT F. CALVERT AND C. GAS- QUOINE HARTLEY, WITH 136 REPRODUCTIONS FROM HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES K/P 813 TZCiQ LONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMIX TVR^ByLL AND SPEARS. PRINTERS, EDINBURGH THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM LIBRARY ^$3 L e CONTENTS PAGE I. Introduction — The Development of Painting in Spainduringthe Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries . . i II. What we do not Know, and What we Know of El Greco’s Life, from his Birth to the Time of his Coming to Spain ...... 16 III. The Venetian-Roman Period. Early Pictures ..... 36 IV. Dominico Greco’s Life in Toledo, 1575 or 1576 to 1614 . . . *59 V. First Period Pictures painted in Toledo, 1575 or 1576 to 1584. The Pictures of Santo Domingo el Antigua and “ The Expolio ” . . . . .78 VI. Middle Period, 1580-1584. “The San Maurice ” and “ The Burial of Count Orgaz” . . . . -95 VII. Middle Period. Other Pictures that belong to the Years 1584-1604 m V in VI EL GRECO VIII. El Greco as a Portrait Painter IX. Final Period, 1600-1614. The Assump- tion of San Vicente. The Retablo of Titulcia. The Hospital de San Juan Bautista. Other Pictures X. Architecture. Sculpture. Drawings . XI. El Greco’s Influence Errata in the Titles of the Plates . PAGE 132 158 172 180 187 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE TITLE GALLERY 1. The Annunciation . . Prado, Madrid 2. Jesus Christ dead in the Arms of God the Father . ,, 3. The Holy Family ... 4. The Baptism of Christ . . 5. The Resurrection ... 6. The Coming of the Holy Ghost ,, 7. The Crucifixion ... 8. St Paul .... 9. St Anthony .... ,, 10. San Basilio .... ,, 11. San Basilio .... ,, 12. The Virgin (not catalogued) . ,, 13. Don Rodrigo Vazquez, Pre- sident of Castile ... ,, 14. Portrait of a Doctor . . ,, 15. Portrait of a Man . . ,, 16. Portrait of a Man . . 17. Portrait of a Man . . 18. Portrait of a Man . . 19. Portrait of a Man . . 20. Portrait of a Man . . 21. Jesus driving the Money- changers from the Temple . Senor A. de Beruete, Madrid 22. Christ with the Cross 23. San Bernardo, Archbishop of Toledo .... Madrid Museum Vlll EL GRECO PLATE TITLE GALLERY 24. Portrait of El Greco, by himself 25. Portrait of Don Gaspar de Quiroga .... 26. Portrait of Juan Bautista Mayno .... 27. Portrait of a Student 28. The Coronation of the Virgin . 29. The Assumption of the Virgin 30. St Francis .... 31. Mary Magdalene . 32. San Sebastian 33. The Assumption of the Virgin 34. Fray Felix Hortensio de Pala- vicino .... 35. St Peter .... 36. St John the Evangelist . 37. Stripping Our Lord before the Crucifix .... 38. St Francis .... 39. St Jerome .... 40. San Sebastian 41. St Francis in Ecstasy . 42. Group of Angels . 43. Mary Magdalene . 44. San Roque .... 45. St Francis .... 46. Fray Felix Hortensio de Pala- vicino .... 47. St Francis .... 48. Christ with the Cross 49. Christ with the Cross Senor A. de Beruete, Madrid Don Pablo Bosch, Madrid Art Institute, Chicago Don Fernando Brieva Don Jose de la Bastida Marques de Casa Torres yp Marques de Cerralbo Don Gualterio J. Buck Marques de Castro Serna Marques de la Vega Inclan Marques de Cerralbo Don Placido Frances Don Cristobal Ferriz Dona Maria del Car- men Mendieta F. A. M. , Boston, U.S. A. Don Nilo Maria Fabra Don Jose Mengs Don Luis Navas ILLUSTRATIONS IX PLATE TITLE GALLERY 50. Man is like Fire, and Woman like Tow .... 51. The Deposition from the Cross 52. St Francis .... 53. The Holy Family . 54. Fragment of Don Fernando Nino de Guevara 5 5 . Don Fernando Nino de Guevara 56. Divine and Profane Love 57. St Peter and St Paul 58. St Jerome .... 59. Christ Crucified 60. View of Toledo 61. St Francis .... 62. St John .... 63. St Francis .... 64. The Dream of Philip II. 65. St Maurice with his Theban Legion .... 66. St Peter .... 67. San Eugenio 68. St Francis .... 69. The Interment of Count Orgaz 70. Detail of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz . 7 1. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz 72. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz 73. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz 74. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz 75. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz Don Luis Navas Don Segismundo Mo- ret y Quintana Don E. Orossen U.S. of America y 9 Don Rafael Vazquez Marques de Berinat Don Maximino Pena Don Jose Suarez Condesa de Onate Don Ignacio Zuloaga Don Antonio Vives Private Collection Chapter Hall of the Escorial The Escorial Church of Santo Tome, Toledo » #> X EL GRECO PLATE TITLE 76. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz 77. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz 78. Our Lady of Sorrows 79. Stripping Our Lord before the Crucifixion 80. The Birth of Jesus 81. The Ascension 82. St John the Baptist 83. St John the Evangelist . 84. Santa Veronica with the Sudarium .... 85. The Annunciation 86. The Crucifixion 87. The Annunciation 88. San Pedro Nolasco 89. The Assumption . 90. St Peter .... 91. San Eugenio 92. Jesus and the Virgin 93. The Virgin .... 94. St Martin .... 95. Ascension of the Virgin . 96. San Jose and the Child Jesus 97. The Virgin, St Anne, Child Jesus, and St John 98. Jesus and St John GALLERY Church of Santo Tome, Toledo Sacristy of the New Kings, Toledo Cathedral Sacristy, Toledo Cathedral Santo Domingo el An- tigua, Toledo Toledo San Nicolas, Toledo Parish Church of San Nicolas, Toledo Parish Church of San Vicente, Toledo Toledo Chapel of San Jose, Toledo 99 9 9 Parish Church of the Magdalene,Toledo Chapel of St Anne, Toledo Church of St John the Baptist, Toledo ILLUSTRATIONS xi PLATE TITLE GALLERY 99. Courtyard in the House of El Greco .... 100. Portrait of Cardinal Tavera 101. The Baptism of Jesus 102. View of the High Altar of the Tavera Hospital 103. Altar-piece of the Convent of Santo Domingo . 104. St Francis of Assisi 105. Our Saviour 106. St Paul .... 107. St Peter .... 108. St Andrew .... 109. St Philip .... no. St James . . . in. St Matthew .... 1 12. St John .... 1 1 3. St Thomas . 1 14. St Bartholomew . 1 15. St Mathias . . . . 1 16. St Judas Tadeo 1 17. St Simon .... 1 18. The Crucifixion 1 19. Allegory of the Virgin . 120. Portrait of Juan de Avila 1 21. Portrait of Antonio Covar- rubias .... 122. General view of Toledo . 123. General view of Toledo . 124. Portrait of the Son of Covar- rubias .... 125. Portrait of El Greco, by himself 126. The Death of Laocoon and his Sons at the Siege of Troy 127. The Annunciation Toledo Hospital of St John the Baptist, Toledo Toledo College of Noble Ladies, Toledo Provincial Museum, Toledo Seville Museum San Telmo, Seville Barcelona xii EL GRECO PLATE TITLE 128. San Ildefonso 129. Altar-piece of the Hospital of Charity .... 130. The Crucifixion 1 3 1 . The Adoration of the Shepherds 132. St Francis receiving the Stig- mata .... 133. St Francis .... 1 34. A Portrait of a Lady 135. Cardinal Nino de Guevara 136. A Saint Praying . GALLERY Illescas EL GRECO i INTRODUCTION THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAINTING IN SPAIN DURING THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES The name of El Greco, from being almost com- pletely neglected, to-day stands prominent as that of one among the greatest and most original personalities in the history of Spanish art. These fashions in criticism need not surprise us. If it has been the work of the nineteenth century to confer on Velazquez the honour he claims, it is in this present century that full justice will be given to the painter who, though of Greek origin, was the first, in time, of the characteristically Spanish masters. El Greco's extreme individuality, and the sin- cerity with which he imposed his own mannerism on the forms of art, are Spanish traits. Though 2 EL GRECO already an accomplished Venetian painter when, in his youth, he came to Toledo, it was in Spain that he developed slowly the manner, which seems to be an epitome, in art, of the Spanish character, with its passionate personality, its dramatic power, its extravagance, its surprises and its strange contradictions. It is this quality of personality that has gained recognition for Greco in this age whose faith is the victory of individuality over convention. Herein we touch the secret of the strong appeal of his work. It is modem, its spirit is the special spirit of to-day. By some Spaniards El Greco is now placed on nearly as high a pinnacle of worship as Velazquez. This is a mistake. The contrast between the greatest Spaniard and his predecessor is as great as can well be imagined, for while Velazquez painted wonders, hardly realising how wonder- ful they were, the Greco was determined at all hazards to astonish and be original. Hence the record in Toledo of the adoption of his style as a protest to the estimate that he was the disciple of Titian. More remarkable even than his power is the obstinate egoism with which he departed from tradition, following his own mannerisms to the utmost limits. It must be granted that his work has the defects of its qualities. His genius was a INTRODUCTION 3 rejective even more perhaps than a creative force ; a restless refusal of limitations more than an acceptance and a triumph. But El Greco's place in the world's art, as well as in that of Spain, is an assured one. Unquestionably his fame will grow. He was the inspirer of Velazquez ; he is the fore- runner of modem art. Until the fifteenth century painting had found no home in Spain. The first, as it has remained the strongest expression in art of this remarkable people, was in sculpture and in building, an expression which gave emphasis to their special dramatic temperament. The carving and mould- ing of wood, and stone, and iron in the fifteenth century had reached a high level of accomplish- ment, and in no country in Europe can be seen more wonderful early carvings than on the tombs in such cathedrals as those of Toledo, Zamora, and Leon. In these works, with their dramatic conceptions, finding its expression in a wealth of interesting details, never quite without the ten- dency to over-emphasis of statement, which marks the art of this people, we see best the finely dramatic and realistic manner that belongs to Spain. It is a pity that these characteristic works are hardly known ; they are the base of all Spanish art. The visit Jan van Eyck made in 1428 to Portugal 4 EL GRECO and Spain marks a change in the art activities of these countries. The brilliant reception accorded to the great Flemish master induced other enter- prising Netherlanders to flock to the peninsula, and, incited by their example, the native artists turned their attention to painting. On this Flemish foundation arose a really capable group of painters. Luis de Dalmau in Barcelona, Fernando Gallegos in Castile, and the much more charming and individual painter, Alego Fernandez, in Seville, are the representatives of this Gothic movement which, if it had not been largely over- whelmed by otherinfluences, might have given birth to a strongly individual national school of painting. The essential ideas in the pictures of these early masters are all borrowed ; they are of the style which, in the Netherlands, was represented by Roger van der Weyden, and in Germany by Wohlgenruth. But, though Flemish in their inspiration, the pictures yet retain an attractive Spanish personality of their own. It is the dis- tinctive gift of Spain to stamp with the seal of her own character the inspirations that came to her from without ; and her painters, more perhaps than the painters of any other school, have imitated and absorbed the art of other nations without degenerating into copyists. All these INTRODUCTION 5 early pictures tell stories. The fine seriousness with which each scene is rendered just as the painter supposed it might have happened is the special Spanish quality, arising out of the dramatic character of the people. Spanish painting is rarely exquisite ; aesthetic sensibility, if we except Velazquez, is almost always absent in her art ; but it is vigorous and dramatic in a high degree. It is the expression of a people with a predomin- antly serious character. Spain is the home of religious art. Pictures had other purposes to serve than that of beauty. They were executed for God to enforce the lessons of the Church ; they were used as warnings and as a means of recording the lives of the saints. In other countries, it is true, we have a religious art, but almost always we find, as well as the sacred, some other outside motive that has inspired the artist : some love of the subject for its own sake, for its opportunities of beauty. Spain never offered sacrifice to the great god of Beauty, and for this reason she never had a real Renaissance. The intense realism of Spanish religious art is a thing apart ; the pictures of Passion scenes, of Assumptions, Martyrdoms, and ecstatic visions of the saints were painted with a vivid belief in the reality of these things, by men who felt the presence of the divine life giving 6 EL GRECO meaning to human life. It is necessary to re- member this overpowering, often mistaken, seri- ousness if we are to understand Spanish art. It may almost be said that her pictures are dog- matic treatises of her faith. But this development of a national art on the basis of Flemish influence was not of long duration, and towards the end of the fifteenth century the newly-born Spanish school was rudely disturbed by the introduction into Spain of the Italian influences of the Renaissance. The building of the Escorial brought a crowd of artists from Italy, not the great masters, for they were no longer alive, but pupils more or less mannered and decadent. Spain was overrun with third-rate imitators of the Italian grand styles, of Michael Angelo, of Raphael and their followers. The decorations of the Escorial may be taken as typical of Italian art as it was transplanted into Spain. To the native artists, trained in the sombre and realistic traditions of the Flemish school, this fresh impulse acted as a swift poison. All work executed in the old style was repudiated as barbarous, and pictures not Italian in their inspiration were cast aside as worthless. A blight fell upon painting. The deep-feeling, individualistic temper of the Spaniards could not INTRODUCTION 7 be reconciled with the spirit of Italy. And for this reason the distinctive Italian schools were an influence for evil in Spain, fatal to the ex- pression of the true genius of the race ; and the period of the mannerists was a period of artistic death. The most capable Spanish representatives of the new style, which seems to have developed simultaneously in the three art centres of Andalusia, Valencia, and Castile, were Luis de Vargas and Pablo de Cespedes, who worked respectively at Seville and Cordova, and in Valencia, Juan de Juanes, an imitator of the pupils of Raphael. The artist of Castile was the illustrious Alonso Berruguete, in whose un- equal, but often admirable work this movement, stamped with the art of the Renaissance, reached its strongest expression. As we see his many works in the cathedral of Toledo, and in his alabaster statuettes at San Benito in Valladolid, he combined something of the power of Michael Angelo with the Spanish spirit. The temper of Spain is strong. Even in this period of mannerism the native painters, though fascinated by the new fine art of Italy, never worked truly in its spirit. They used Renaissance forms only to present religious scenes. Thus 8 EL GRECO Luis de Vargas, when he painted his celebrated pic- ture in Seville, “ La Gamba,” though he borrowed Italian symbols — learnt during twenty-eight years spent in that country, probably as the pupil of Perino del Vaga — translated these symbols into a Spanish dogmatic theme. His earlier picture of “The Nativity 55 is more strikingly Spanish; the goat, the sheaf of straw, as well as the other ac- cessories are executed with naturalistic strength — the Spanish gift which finds its full expression in the great pictures of Ribera. Berruguete, in his works in Toledo, shows a certain fervour and personality that mingles curiously with his Italian training. And Juanes also is no Re- naissance master. Although he has been called the Spanish Raphael, there is nothing Italian in his pictures of “ The Martyrdom of St Stephen ” now in the Prado. The colours are harsh, the movements hard and angular, and the scenes are rendered with an over-dramatic realism, and without reference to any ideal of beauty. The crowd who in fury revile the saint are Spanish people. Valencia had another painter of more pro- nounced personality, Francesco Ribalta, whose pictures, very rarely met with outside Spain, deserve a greater reputation than they have yet INTRODUCTION 9 been accorded. Ribalta learnt his art in Italy, but it was in the Bolognese school, where a vigorous revolt had sprung up against the shallow and feeble mannerisms of later Italian art. This force of the counter- Reformation, expressing itself in southern Italy in the work of Caravaggio, gave direct inspiration to Valencian Ribalta. The realistic school of Italy, stern, dramatic, occu- pied with the terror of life, quite unlike the art of the Renaissance, was an art the native painter could perfectly assimilate. Thus Ribalta brought back from Italy a really fruitful seed to bear fruit in Spanish soil. He was the first of the Spanish realists. In his native province he founded a school, in which worked his son Juan, Espinosa, Pedro Orrente, and Esteban March, capable, though little-known painters. The great Jose Ribera, at that time quite young, was also his pupil. Contemporary with these leaders of the new Italian movement worked Luis de Morales, a native of Estramadura, who in Spain is called “ the divine,” on account of the exclusively religious subjects he painted and the strange passionate mysticism with which he imbued them. Morales is almost wholly Spanish, and he evolved his art for himself from a very eclectic training. In his early pictures, ‘ ‘ The Virgin 10 EL GRECO caressing her Son ” and “ The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple/' we see a curious Raphaelesque sweetness, combined with great realism. Then, in his later work, the colours darken, the composition is harder, and the dry brown flesh and attenuated anatomy bring us back to the old Flemish models. We are re- minded of the style of Massy. Like that master Morales almost always uses half-length figures. A painful, passionate asceticism pervades his work. He dwells upon the sorrows of the Christ, and paints the Son, fainting beneath the burden of the cross, flogged at the column, or bleeding under the crown of thorns ; or it is Our Lady of Grief, who embraces her Son, or gazes passionately upon his Cross ; she is the mother who realises the grief of divine son-ship. In these pictures everything is sacrificed to the religious expression ; one feels that the use made of the archaic drawing in the angular emaciated figures is quite intentional, and is chosen because it seemed more pious than the free style of the Renaissance. This intense and mannered pietism, prevalent in all Spanish pictures, which finds complete expression in Morales, can be compre- hended only in reference to the Spanish character. It must also be remembered that in Spain religion INTRODUCTION ii was shadowed by the Inquisition. It is a quality difficult to describe. Can we say that it is person- ality goaded into over-emphasis by the fear of heaven forbidding the joys of earth ? Even in contemporary portraiture, as we see it in the royal portraits of Alonso Sanchez Coello and Patajo de la Cruz, this exaggerated con- sciousness of religion is present, and no one had a portrait painted without a rosary. Religious art itself becomes portrait painting, and we find royal models sitting for scriptural subjects, as, for instance, in Patajo’s “ Nativity ” and “ The Virgin with Christ,” which pictures are now in the Royal Gallery of Madrid. Portraits such as these were expressions of piety and humility, virtues held in esteem in this land of religious struggles. It is significant that, at this time, Spanish artists were turning to Venice, where they found new inspiration in an art suited to their tempera- ment in its methods and in its spirit. Venice, which since its origin had been a religious city, a Byzantine outpost on Italian soil, was the first home of the great ecclesiastical reaction that followed the Renaissance. For Venice paganism remained an episode ; the great Renaissance masters, from Pisanello to Veronese, were not born Venetians, 12 EL GRECO and their work was not real Venetian painting. In the first half of the sixteenth century there had disappeared from art that spontaneous joy of young humanity in life, free from the thought of religion — for had not earth itself been transformed into heaven ? — which was the fervour of the first Renaissance. Giorgione was dead. Titian, who had given a proud and majestic splendour to the sensuous Giorgionesque spirit, had changed his art to embrace the new ideas expressed in the second half of his life. He paints the Magdalene with a skull, and with a scriptural subject, “The Crown of Thorns/’ he closed his work. Veronese, the great, happy pagan, had been summoned before the tribunal of the Inquisition to answer for his “ Last Supper,” which to-day hangs in the Louvre. Already had Crivelli, in the fifteenth century, striven to resurrect Byzantine art in Venice. Half-a-century later another native Venetian, feeling the beauty of the world too strong and too real, and haunted by visions he was over-timid to confront, had preached the gospel of the renunciation of joy that belongs to Byzantine art. The signal of the Church was sounded ; the spirit of the Renaissance was dead. In 1519 Tintoretto was born, the mighty master of the mature age of art who, by his whole char- INTRODUCTION 13 acter, stormy and extravagant, was fitted to give expression to this new uneasy consciousness of incurable strife and sorrow : the gloomy pathos of the Counter-Reformation. Spain was ready to respond to this new influence in Venice, which had many points of contact with her own character. We must remember that in this country the struggle for the faith was tra- ditional ; and Spaniards battled against the pagan- ism of Rome in the sixteenth century, as in the Middle Ages they had battled against the Moors. The qualities of Spain are the qualities of char- acter. This explains what we have noted : the deep-feeling, dramatic and profound religious in- stinct in her early art — an instinct far deeper than the technical performance of her artists. We must remember, too, that Caraffa was legate in Spain before he went to Venice in 1527. It was in Spain he learned that passion for the purification of the Church which in Venice bore result in this spiritual revival, of which, in art, Tintoretto was the mouthpiece. Spain was thus in a double sense related to the great religious revival that first ex- pressed itself in Venice. A certain number of Spanish artists had already come into contact with Venetian painting. Titian had contributed many great pictures to the de- 14 EL GRECO coration of the royal palace and of the Escorial. But it was not from these works that the native painters drew inspiration, for the magnificent, joyous art of Titian was too far in its essence from their own. Tintoretto was the decisive factor for the transmission of the new inspiration. Navar- rete, called “ el mudo,” one of the founders of the Madrid school, felt his influence, as his works — for instance the “ Christ in Limbo ’’ — bear witness. Juan de las Roelas, who translated the Venetian spirit into an Andalusian formula, which later found expression in the sensuous art of Murillo and Alonso Cano, was his pupil. El Greco began by being frankly his imitator. But Greco did not remain a pupil. Tintoretto in Venice and Greco in Spain : these two masters embody the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, with its passion of vision, its sincerity and struggle, and withal its uneasy consciousness of decay. Alike in character, fiery and passionate, their work is alike in its intimate search and pene- tration for ideas, but each master preserved his own personality, which he forced upon the tradi- tional forms of art. As a mighty liberating power the Greco- Venetian came to Spain. The artists before him were local masters. Greco, on Spanish soil, carrying his individuality to the furthest INTRODUCTION 15 limits of expression, developed a style which, as we have seen, is the manifestation in art of the old temper of Spain, earnest, mystical, pro- foundly emotional, almost exclusively religious, yet realistic, and always dramatic. Greco opens the history of Spanish painting ; and in his strange and fascinating work the Spanish school first claims universal attention and challenges quite worthily the world’s masters. II WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW, AND WHAT WE KNOW OF EL GRECO’S LIFE, FROM HIS BIRTH TO THE TIME OF HIS COMING TO SPAIN We know almost nothing of El Greco’s life. Apart from his pictures we are among vagueness and mystery ; though the mystery has of late been cleared a little by the valuable and patient re- searches of Senor Cossio, to whose book on the Greco, just published in Spain, this present work on the painter, the first to be written in England, owes important biographical and documentary materials, which are here gratefully acknowledged. Yet the known facts even now are meagre enough, and if external happenings were all, the first great and most original painter of the Spanish school would remain an unexplained personality. Spain has not been careful of the reputation of her great ones — a neglect that would be surprising indeed if it were not part of the stately and simple indifference behind which the Spaniards hide their real love of art. Even to-day the 16 FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 17 Spaniard is constitutionally incapable of accepting the delusion that the great things in art may be made greater by accumulated writings. There is among the whole nation a simple acceptance of their treasures without the desire to explain them. Our painter's very name is uncertain. To his contemporaries he was known as the Greco, the difficult Theotocopuli, barbarous to the Spaniards, being disregarded ; and up to the end of the eighteenth century no one writes of him except as Dominico Greco. Pacheco, Palomino, Giuseppe Martinez and other native writers, who mention his work, use this name. It is also the name found in the inventories of the palace, the registers of Toledo, and the indices of public writings ; and this name is given in the recently found item of his burial, the one authentic record that we have of his life. Sometimes, as in the laudatory sonnets of Gongora and Paravicino, he is called " the Greigo,” but this form of the name is unusual. And it is as Dominico Greco, shortened more often to El Greco, that the Toledan painter is now, and will be, remembered. What happened to Tintor- etto, his master, has happened to him ; his real name has been forgotten, and a name given by chance becomes the one consecrated in the history of art. B i8 EL GRECO Yet the Greco himself seems to have held his name in honour, for he has been prodigal in the signatures that he has left. We find his name, Domenicos Theotocopoulos, written in Greek characters, on the majority of his pictures, which must certainly be his family name. He uses also Domenico Theotocopuli, which he seems to have accepted as the Italian form of the Greek name. It is in this wise that he signed his contracts for work and payment letters in Toledo. Later the Italian Domenico was changed into the Spanish Dominico, and finally he came to sign his name thus. It is therefore as right to call the painter Domenico or Dominico Theotocopuli, as some prefer, as Domenicos Theotocopoulos, the name used by others . 1 1 The first form of the name is used by Carl Justi, the second by D. Salvador Sampere, who has given much time in investigating the details of the painter’s life. The earliest writer to use the name in Spain was Villegas, who, in his “ Extra vagantes,” speaks of the painter as “ Domenico Theotovcopuli of the Greek nation." Ponz, in the second edition of his “ Viage," uses “ Domenico Teotocopoli," but this was corrected by Cean Bermudez, in his “ Diccion- ario," to “ Dominico Theotocopoli." There has been in Spanish writers no different use of this name, nor has the Greco ever been confused with any other painter. In Italy, however, great confusion has arisen, which has extended to Germany and Greece. Senor Cossio thinks that Greco’s name did not appear in the Italian histories of art until after the publication in Spain of Palomino’s book (1704). FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 19 The one date that we know certainly in El Greco’s life is the date of his deaths and for this In the second edition (1733) of the “ Abecedario,” issued in Naples by Francisa Solimena, there is a short notice of the painter under the name of Domenico Greco. This notice is repeated in the Venetian edition of the book (1753), where further details are added, drawn from Palomino — and the name is changed to “ Domenico Teoscopoli.” In the “ Racolta di Lettere,” a letter about the Spanish painter, dated Rome, 26th October, 1765, and written to Sefior Ponfredi Francesco Preziado, director of the Spanish Academy in Rome, the painter is Domenico Greco, and no mention is made of his surname. Afterwards Lanzi, in his “ Storia Pittorica della Italia,” attributed to Greco the name of Domenico delle Greche, confusing him with a contemporary painter of that name, who was also a Greek, who worked in Venice in the studio of Titian ; he also perpetuated the use of the defective name “ Teoscopolis.” And these mistakes, though contradicted by the Abbe Zanni, who points out the difference in the age of the two painters, in his “ Enciclopedia,” was repeated by many of the Italian writers. It reappears in Ticozzi’s dictionary, and Bekelas makes the same error and calls him “ Theoscopolis,” saying that he wrote his name thus with his own hand ; which was carried to Greece, where El Greco was again confused with the older delle Greche. The result of this was that in Germany Nagler, in his “Lexicon,” accepts the two forms of Greco’s name, while Engarth uses the one form, “ Teoscopoli,” in his catalogue. The same mistake is made in the catalogue of the Museum of Vienna, and, what is of more importance, the false form of the name has been written in Latin characters, above the first inscrip- tion, which it effaces, on the bottom left-hand corner of the canvas in Greco’s “ Portrait of a Young Man.” Even England has not escaped the error, and Stirling-Maxwell, led astray by this confusion, suggests that Greco was the son of delle Greche. For an amplification of this important and interesting question of Greco's name the reader is referred to Sen or 20 EL GRECO reason we must start his biography at the wrong end. On the 7th day of April, 1614, 1 Dominico Greco died in Toledo, two years before Cervantes, with whom his life was exactly contemporaneous. The item of the painter’s burial, which gives this date, was discovered and published in 1876 by the Keeper of the Records of Toledo, Senor Foradada. It is contained in the folio (332. 1) of the Book of Funerals for the Parish of Santo Tome, dated from the year 1601 to 1614. The notice is brief ; it runs as follows : " 1 7. En siete del Abril del 1614 falesco Domeniko Greco. No hizo testamento ; recibo los sacramentos, en teroso en Santo Domingo el Antiquo ; dio belas. On yth April , 1614, died Domenico Greco. He left no will. He received the sacraments, ivas buried in Santo Domingo el Antiguo ; and gave candles .” Much is told us in this concise notice. The Greco died a good Christian, and he paid for Cossio’s book (chap. i. pp. 17-29). It is from this source that the facts given here have been taken. 1 The date has been given erroneously by nearly all, even among the Spanish writers. Carl Justi, as a rule so exact, gives the wrong date in an account of Greco in his volume on “ Velazquez,” and in his chapter on Spanish Art in “ Baedeker.” It is given correctly in “ A Record of Spanish Painting,” by C. Gasquoine Hartley, and in “ Toledo,” by Hannah Lynch. FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 21 candles to illuminate his tomb. 1 He left no testament, so the hope is closed of finding such document, which would have cleared up the uncertaint}^ about his family and his worldly condition. Further it contradicts two of the mistakes made by Palomino 2 in his notice of the painter, in “El Museo Pictorico,” where he says Greco died about 1625, fixing on that date because in that year the painter’s son, Jorge Manuel, was made architect of the cathedral of Toledo, and judging mistakenly that he succeeded his father ; and further that he was buried in San Bartolome, adding fanciful details, which 1 The position of Greco’s tomb in Santo Domingo is not known. In the church there are three sepulchral flags. Two are known to be those of the founders of the church, Dofla Maria de Silva, and of a cavalier of the eighteenth century, a physician of Charles III. The third tomb, which is in the axis of the church, has not yet been identified. It is made of slate, and bears an inscription of the seventeenth century, which is almost obliterated and illegible. (See Senor Cossio, PP- 3. 4)- 2 This is Palomino’s statement : “ Our Dominico died in Toledo about the year 1625, when he was seventy-seven years of age, although others state that he was older. He was buried in the parish church of San Bartolome, and over the sepulchre was placed, I do not know from what motive, a grating in place of a flagstone, so that no other person could be buried in the same place. This is not in preservation to-day because, the church having been destroyed, it was removed during the rebuilding (“ El Museo Pictorico,” pp. 428-429). 22 EL GRECO he either invented, or which must have been circulated in Toledo. It is not possible to fix with certainty the year in which El Greco was born, and this also makes it impossible to establish his age. Palomino gives that age as seventy-seven ; and reckoning from the false date of death, 1625, that gives 1548 as the year of birth, which date has been accepted hitherto by the painter's biographers. But the real date of death is 1614, which would change the age to sixty-six years, and carry the birth date back to 1537. This is unlikely, for Julio Clovio, writing of Domenico Greco in 1570, speaks of him as a young man, which he would hardly have done if he was then thirty-three years of age. The question is, What guided Palomino in stating this age of seventy-seven ? Don Salvador Sampere, who investigated the whole question in his article on Greco published in Spain in 1900, has sought to explain this point by suggesting that Palomino, taking the date either from an old lost writing or more probably from verbal information, mistook the seventy- seven years for sixty-seven, according to which Greco, dying in 1614, would have been born in 1547, and would thus be twenty-three years old at the time he presented himself to Julio FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 23 Clovio. However, it seems more probable that Palomino, whose inaccuracy with regard to birth dates has been proved again and again, made his statement without authority ; for he admits his uncertainty, and adds, after he gives the age, “ although others say that he was older,” which he would not have done if he had known really the date of Greco’s birth. What, then, have we to guide us ? There is the statement of Clovio, which fixes the fact that in 1570 Greco, on his arrival in Rome, was a young man. And this is further proved, if the portrait of the youth who appears in the picture of “ The Purification of the Temple,” in the possession of Lord Yarborough, in London, or the one who figures in the Parma picture of “ The Curing of the Blind Man,” can be accepted as a portrait of Greco. In these pictures we see two youths, each of whom might be the painter, and both are about twenty years old. We have one other statement to help us. Giuseppe Martinez, in his “ Lectures on Painting,” which were written only fifty years after the death of Greco, although not printed until 1866, says that the painter “arrived at a ripe age” ( ellegS d crecida eddd), which probably started the idea that Greco died old. These are the few facts. No register of baptism has been 24 EL GRECO found, and there seems little hope that such a document will be discovered. No mention of the painter’s name occurs either in the parochial books of the numerous Greek colonies, who at that time were living in Venice, nor in the few old Cretan archives, which were saved and carried to Venice at the time of the Turkish Conquest. All that can be said, then, is that Dominico Greco was born, probably, sometime between 1545 and 1550 ; and therefore his age in 1614, the year in which we know he died, would be somewhere between sixty-five and seventy years. We come to what we know of El Greco’s life. One of the few certain facts is that he was a native of Crete, as we know by his signature, always in Greek, on several pictures. Aopjvix 05 0 €otoxo7toi;A.os XPV 1 * — that is, Dominichos Theotocopulos, Cretan fecit. It is proof of the carelessness of the painter’s biographers that this important evidence was overlooked until Carl Justi, in 1888, drew attention to this signature on the San Maurice of the Escorial. The same discovery was made independently at about the same time by the Greek writer, Demetrius Bikelas. Greco seems to have found special pleasure in remembering Crete. In his picture FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 25 of “ St Paul the Apostle,” in the sacristy of Toledo cathedral, and also in all the known replicas of the picture, the epistle which the saint holds in his hands bears the inscription in Greek * Upos T LTOV TYjS XPlTtoV ’E'xxX.rfiias irpuTOV C7rt O "ypirov yeipoTOveOevra (Titus ordained the first bishop of the Cretans). Another proof that Dominico Greco came from Crete is given in the letter of Julio Clovio, already quoted from, in which he describes Greco as “ a youth from Candia ” (givvane candiota ). And further proof, if this is needed, has now been added by Senor Cossio, who has brought to notice the definite assertion of Greco’s contemporary and friend, the famous Fr. Hortensio Felix Paravicino. 1 In the sonnet which the orator dedicated to Greco’s tomb, he says : “ Creta le dio y los pinceles Toledo ” 2 (Crete gave him life and Toledo his pencil). 1 Paravicino dedicated four sonnets to El Greco. Two of these are given by Palomino, and one of them is the sonnet written for the tomb of Queen Margarita. The other sonnets seem not to have been noticed until Senor Cossio pointed out the importance of one of them in his valuable book. 2 Palomino, as we have said, quotes, or rather rais-quotes, this sonnet. The poet wrote : “ A1 n£car que visti6 candido, pone 26 EL GRECO The same statement is repeated in another sonnet, dedicated by Paravicino to the tomb of Queen Margarita, which was erected by Greco. In this he writes, “ the tomb was made by the strong hand of Crete/' But not only do we know that Greco was a Cretan, but the town of his birth is established. Again we owe the discovery to Sefior Cossio. He has — by a happy chance, he tells us ; we might add, by most patient care and research — found a document, 1 in which there is a declara- tion made by El Greco in 1582 before the tribunal of the Inquisition, when called to act as an interpreter in the case of a Cretan accused of being a Moresco. He is here described as “ Dominiko Theotokopuli, native of Candia, painter, resident in Toledo.” The document does not contain the signature of Greco. Toledo agradecido, pov valiente mano de Creta caxa peregrina.” Palomino changed the last line into “ mano en aquesia caxa progrina,” missing the very point of interest. In the “ Obras poeticas de Paravicino ” the word Creta is written with a small “ c ” and is placed very close to the de : thus, decreta. Sefior Cossio thinks that this accounts for the mistake, causing the copyist to seek a new meaning for the words. 1 This document has now been published by Don J ose Marti y Monso in the Boletln de la soc. cast de Exc. FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 27 The residence of our painter in Crete, which by these facts is now established, is of the utmost importance. This early environment counts for much. It is certain that the basis of Greco’s art was formed by Byzantine - Cretan local traditions. But this consideration carries us beyond the scope of the present chapter. No clue has been discovered that gives us any knowledge of Dominico Greco’s parents ; nor have we any information as to the manner of his life until the close of the year 1570. Then we have Julio Clovio’s letter, the one irrefutable proof of the stay in Venice. The facts that we learn are important. The celebrated miniature painter commends his young compatriot, who, he states, is coming to Rome, to the patronage of the Cardinal Nepote Farnese. He speaks of his skill in painting, and says that he has learnt his art as the pupil of Titian. But the exact contents are as follows : “ Al Card, Farnese- Viterbo, “A* di 16 di Nouembre, 1570. “ E’ capittato in Roma un giouane Candiotto discepolo di Titiano, che & mio guiditio parmi raro nella pittura ; e fra l’altre cox egli ha fatio un ritratto da se stesso, che fa stupire tutti questi 28 EL GRECO Pittori di Roma. Io vorrei tratenerlo sotto Tombra di V. S. Illman. et Revma, senza spesa altra del vivere, ma solo de una stanza nell Palazzo Farnese per qualche poco di tempo, cioe per fin che egli si venghi ad accomodare meglio. Pero La prego et supplico sici contenta di scrivere al Conte Lodovico suo Maiordomo, che lo pro- vegghi nel detto Palazziq di qualche stanza ad alto ; che V. S. Illma far£ un’ opera virtuosa degna di Lei, e io glieue terro obligo. Et le bascio con reverenza le mani. “ Di V. S. Illma. et Revma, humflissimo servitore, Julio Clovio.” “ To Card. Farnese-Viterbo, “ 16 th November 1570. “ There has arrived in Rome a young man from Candia , a disciple of Titian , who in my opinion is a painter of rare talent ; among other things he has painted a portrait of himself , which causes wonder- ment to all the painters in Rome. I should like him to be under the patronage of your Illustrious and Reverend Lordship , without any other con- tribution towards his living than a room in the Farnese Palace for some little time , until he can find other accommodation. I therefore beg and pray you to have the kindness to write to Count Lodovico, your Majordomo, to provide him with some room near the top in the said Palace ; your FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 29 Illustrious Lordship will be doing a virtuous deed worthy of you , and I shall feel very grateful. “ I reverently kiss your hands and remain of your Illustrious and Reverend Lordship , (< The most humble servant, “ Julio Clovio.” From this letter, then, we know that in 1570 Greco, still young, was the pupil of Titian, and had already gained skill in his art ; we may there- fore adopt the suggestion of Carl Justi and place the years of his apprenticeship in the studio of the master during the decade 1560-1570. We shall speak later of these years of youth in Venice, so important to Greco that in his early manner he is a pure Venetian, though, as we should expect, even from the time of his first picture his special per- sonality was determined. Perhaps this is why he seems to have learnt nothing from Titian except the technique of his art. For it was not from the great Renaissance master that the young Greco drew his inspiration, but from the passionate, religious Tintoretto, whose art, we know, had so many points of contact with his own ; he was influenced also by the work of the Bassani, as his first portraits testify. But again we are antici- pating. Here we have no further facts to note. 30 EL GRECO We are uncertain as to the reason, or reasons, which brought the young painter to Rome ; though it may well have been to seek a market for his pictures in the Eternal City, as well as the desire for further teaching. Of the pictures that belong to this Venetian-Roman period we shall speak in the next chapter. Whether they were painted before or after 1570, and belong to the years in Venice or to the years in Rome, it is impossible to decide with certainty, though it seems likely that any Venetian pictures are lost, and that those few pictures of the painter’s youth that we know belong to the Roman period, and perhaps were executed for the Cardinal Nepote, who would seem to have lodged Greco in his palace, where there is evidence to think that his pictures were preserved among the collection of the Famesio house. We can well imagine that the young Greco, with his vivid realisation of life, would be wrought upon by the special life of Rome. It would be easy to enlarge on the probable influence of the Italian masters upon the Greco-Venetian student, and especially on the certain and powerful influence of Michael Angelo, where again he would meet an art in sympathy with his character. But in forming a conclusion it is likely we should fall into error. FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 31 Thus we must pass on for seven years to the next date that we know. Sometime before 1577, probably in 1576 or 1575, Dominico Greco came to Spain. In that year we find him at work in Toledo, engaged in decorating the then new church of Santo Domingo el Antigua, as we know from the date 1577 after his signature upon the central picture of “ The Ascension ” in the retablo of the said church, as well as from the documents relating to the works of the church, according to which Dominico Theotocopuli painted the eight pictures for the principal and collateral altars, and was paid 1000 ducats for the work. 1 The same silence prevails respecting the reasons that brought Greco to Spain. Julio Clovio may have had something to do with his appointment as a painter worthy of undertaking the decoration of the Toledan church ; the miniaturist had himself worked for the King of Spain, and he would probably know the ad- vantages to be gained by a young painter of talent settling in the imperial city of Toledo. Perhaps he was personally acquainted with Don Diego de Castilla, Dean of Toledo, who was one of the founders of the church of Santo Domingo. It was the period when Italian painters were flocking to 1 Cean Bermudez, “ Diccionario," t. v. p. 7. 32 EL GRECO Spain. The building of the Escorial which, about 1565, was urged forward by the Spanish sovereign with feverish activity, formed the great centre of artistic industry. Bergamasco, Patrico Caxesi, and Romulo Cincin- nati had been called already to Spain ; later came the Venetian Frederico Zuccaro, his pupil Barto- lommeo Carducci and the esteemed Tibaldi, and although the great masters themselves did not come — Veronese refused the invitation of Philip II. — their works were sent to Spain, notably those of Titian, who enjoyed the favour of the Spanish monarchs until his death in 1576. This Greco would know, and he may well have been urged to seek his fortune in a country that called for, and rewarded genius. But be the reason what it may, it was a fortunate choice that brought the Greco- Venetian painter to Toledo. The imperial city, though not the political capital, Philip II. having, in 1561, fixed the Court at Madrid, in order to be nearer to his beloved Escorial, was the very centre of Spain’s life. It was then, as it is now, the city that gives the most finished and characteristic expression of the genuine Spanish civilisation. The national charac- ter, intense and brilliant, proud and aloof, and the nation’s history here seem to appear before you. FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 33 In no other city are there the same number of architectural monuments, which make it indeed the museum in which the original lines of the native art can best be studied. The student of Spain must always visit Toledo. It is the chief home of the two great elements of Spanish culture, the Christian and the Arab, the inter- penetration of which elements is the most typical note Spain offers in the sphere of art. Christian and Moor overlap in many buildings, while in others the individuality of each emerges isolated and independent. In the cathedral we see nothing of the Moor ; and in the characteristic parts of the wonderful mosque of Bel-el-Mardon, now called el Cristo de la Luz, and in the less known, but not less interesting, mosque in the Calle de las Tornarias — a building which was never converted to Christian uses and retains its original physiognomy almost unimpaired — we can with difficulty trace the Christian. Then the Sinagoga del Transito, for instance, shows the Moorish tradition persisting. Again Toledo had accumulated an enormous quantity of jewels of the early and middle centuries, and of the Renaissance, treasures of unimaginable splendours. Not less wonderful are her church vestments. The early Gothic embroideries are exquisite, c 34 EL GRECO These inspirations of culture must not be for- gotten. And the city itself — ah, it is difficult in words to describe Toledo ! A great town, set on its rough and elevated rock of granite in the midst of the blue Sierra, closely ringed by the deep brown water of the Tajo, it has been content to wait un- changed through the slow centuries. Its steeply- rising streets, with their many buildings of so many different civilizations that here remain together ; churches, convents, mosques, Gothic houses, walls and ornaments, steep Moorish passages — every- where the Moorish design is evident — and a great Christian cathedral. Toledo is a real living picture, where each building is a voice that speaks the history of Spain. Toledo awaited a painter. Already the city had great buildings ; there was much fine sculpture and beautiful paintings on glass ; the cathedral and churches were furnished with the most perfect industrial arts that had been produced in Spain. The time had not yet been ripe for the painting of pictures. We have seen that in Spain the de- velopment of painting had been slow ; that what she had achieved under Flemish influence, by Luis de Dalmau, Fernandez and others had been in large measure lost. We have noted the fatal FROM BIRTH TO COMING TO SPAIN 35 neo-Italianism of such painters as Luis de Vargas, Cespedes, and Juanes. But we have seen also that in the sixteenth century the new spirit in art was awakening. Ribalta in Valencia, Navarrete in Madrid, Morales in Estremadura, and Roelas in Seville had turned to the school of southern Italy and to Venice, the roads whereby Spanish art was to attain salvation. In Toledo the obscure painters of the cathedral were Juan de Borgona, Carbajal, and Luis de Velasco, and the much more interesting Bias del Prado, in whose altar pictures the special Spanish manner speaks, if haltingly. Toledo now sought a painter of genius and technical mastery, who would be able to translate her history and identify himself with her spirit, catch her wonderful cold colours, and whose works would rival her ancient treasures in their beauty. El Greco was called to this role of giving the first expression in painting to the Toledan spirit, which is also the spirit of Spain. Ill THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD. EARLY PICTURES It has been said that in his early pictures, painted in this first period of youth, Greco was a pure Venetian, showing little of the special qualities that distinguish his art. This is a mistake. Like all the other capable painters of that time, he had studied with Titian, yet he never appears as a true Renaissance master. Perhaps his individuality is best shown by the way he resisted this influence, to which all Titian’s pupils, even Tintoretto, in his youth, succumbed. Thus the Greco’s pictures have been attributed to the Bassani, to Tintoretto, to his friend Clovio, to Veronese even, but never to Titian. The cycle of his works begins with religious pictures — works that have already, though unde- veloped, the character he maintained throughout his life. We see especially the continuing repetition of varying lights, the delight in movement, and audacity in the use of colours ; pledges of the 36 THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 37 originality that with, or without success, Greco always sought after ; so that it is an astonishment that these Grecos can have been attributed to any other master — a mistake explained only by the fact that in Italy the memory of his work has been lost, even his existence forgotten. It is significant that, like Lotto, St Jerome is the first saint that Greco chooses to paint. The Byzantine- Cretan youth gives no sign of the joyful Renaissance spirit. In two pictures of this period — genre peasant-studies of splendid individuality when we remember the painter’s age at the time they were executed — Greco strikes chords which we find echoed in no other Venetian work. These pictures give a curiously modem impression. To this period of Dominico Greco’s youth Carl Justi assigns six pictures, all of which have been rescued from false attributions, and within the last half-century restored to Greco : two render- ings of " Christ healing the Blind Man,” the earlier in the Royal Gallery of Dresden and the later picture in the Parma Gallery ; the portrait of Julio Clovio in the National Gallery of Naples, and a splendid genre picture of “ A Boy Lighting a Coal,” also in the same gallery ; two important compositions on the subject used so often by Greco, “ The Purification of the Temple,” both 38 EL GRECO in England, one belonging to the Countess of Yar- borough, the other in the Cook Collection at Richmond. Senor Cossio, in his important work, mentions three further pictures in the same style and of the same period which, until now, like the other six pictures, have passed as originals of other masters ; one, “ The Adoration of the Shepherds,” in the Imperial Gallery, Vienna, has been called a Bassano ; the second, “ The Purification of the Temple,” the same subject as the London pictures, belongs to Senor de Ber- uete, Madrid. It is more advanced in style, and shows the transition from the Italian to the Spanish manner. The remaining picture, en- titled " Escena de Genero ” (Raising a Flame), is a genre study, of which there are several re- plicas. There was also painted in Italy the picture of St Jerome, now in the National Gallery, London ; and, the more important, " Portrait of an Un- known Man ” in the Vienna Imperial Gallery. In addition to these eleven pictures there are repetitions of the same themes, and a few old copies of Italian subjects ; and although some of these canvases may have been executed in Spain, they belong to the Italian period in con- ception and workmanship. Here the list of known pictures painted by Greco before he went THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 39 to Spain, in 1575 or 1576, closes. It is possible that other canvases will be discovered that, like these pictures, have been attributed to Italian painters ; we do not know of them yet. Unfortunately it is not possible to decide the exact date at which this first group of pictures were painted. Were any of them executed in Venice before the journey to Rome in 1571 ? We do not know. But the fact that the pictures form a series, the same models being used in different subjects; and again that in two of them figures Julio Clovio, Greco’s protector in Rome, would suggest that they belong to the second Roman period. Besides, there is the evidence before referred to, that some of the pictures belong to the collection of the Farnesio house, and were probably painted for the Cardinal Nepote, in whose palace the young painter lodged. It seems, then, that the only picture painted during his pupil years with Titian in Venice is “The Portrait of an Unknown Man,” in the Imperial Gallery of the city. This portrait, and also the other early portrait of Julio Clovio, we shall notice later, when we come to consider Greco as a portraitist. All other Venetian pictures — and there must have been many to enable Clovio to write as he does of the proficiency the young Greek had attained in his art — have disappeared 40 EL GRECO as a result of the neglect Italy has accorded to the Greco. Lost too is that auto-portrait which the same letter of Clovio tells us compelled the ad- miration of the Roman painters. It has disap- peared without leaving any trace of its ever having existed, except what the miniaturist tells us about it. This loss is specially to be deplored, as it leaves us in uncertainty as to which is the real portrait of Greco at this date. It is convenient to divide these first pictures by their subjects into three groups : one a series of re- ligious compositions, another of genre, and a third of portraits. Eleven pictures, with the originals, their repetitions, and old copies belong to the first group of sacred history ; but among these eleven pictures there are only three subjects, “ The Healing of the Blind Man ” and “ The Cleansing of the Temple/’ one or other of which subjects occurs in ten pictures, and “ The Adoration of the Kings,” which is used once only. Again, it is very difficult to tell exactly which is the earliest of these pictures. The question can, however, be decided by a careful study of the £ ^sition of the pictures . 1 In the Dresden and 1 This order is adopter v v Senor Cossio ; and there seems no reason to question that this is the true arrange- ment. THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 41 Parma pictures of “ The Healing of the Blind Man ” there is greater indecision and want of unity ; there is more originality in the London pictures of “ The Cleansing of the Temple/' and this originality expresses itself most strongly in Senor Beruete’s picture on the same subject. A gulf separates this picture from the other pictures of this period ; we see the passion and energy of movement that Greco developed in Spain. The two versions of “ The Healing of the Blind Man ” must, therefore, be regarded as the first pictures painted by the Greco. We owe the restoration of the pictures to Greco to Carl Justi. The Dresden picture had passed as the work of Leandro Bassano ; the one at Parma, notwithstanding the fact that it bears the signature of the Greco, had been regarded as a Veronese, from 1680 when it was found in the Palazzo del Giardino. Justi discovered the signature on the canvas at the time when he already suspected the true attribution of the companion Dresden picture. The two pictures are not copies, but different renderings of one subject. An examination of the canvases make this very evident, and the Dresden picture is the one that must have been executed first. The main composition is the 42 EL GRECO same in the two pictures, and there is hardly any change in the principal figures of Christ and the blind man, though the expression of the Christ has more dignity in the later work. Again the placing of the remaining figures — the groups of the people of Bethesda — is nearly identical ; we see them on either side of the picture giving the same disposition of shadow ; there is the same back- ground of rich palaces, the same sky with the same clouds. Yet the difference between the composi- tions is very marked ; the Parma picture reveals that process which the Greco always followed of eliminating details and concentrating the interest in the action. In the later rendering the fine central sitting figures of the old man and the youth, which are so prominent in the Dresden composition, distracting the attention from the action of the principal group, are removed and converted into an incident which does not disturb. Again, the dog attracting the eye so insistently in the foreground has disappeared. The two principal groups have been drawn nearer together ; there is greater order in their actions and in the combining of the figures ; they have gained in naturalness, in life, and in expression. Nor is this greater unity in the composition the THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 43 only progress revealed in the Parma “ Healing of the Blind Man.” There is advance in the drawing and in the colour, and, above all, in the perspective. Greco begins to use the contrast of lights illumin- ating his heads, which later he accentuated. Then we see the audacity with which, even in his youth, he uses colour — for instance, in the dashes of light in the carmine sash of the Saviour, in the deep yellow mantle of the old man, or, even more, in the white vestment of the disciple on the extreme right, in which we gain hints of many later pictures. In the attitudes, too, especially of the always expressive hands, we are carried forward to the Greco we know. Senor Cossio considers, as a third variation of “ The Healing of the Blind Man,” the picture in Madrid, the property of Don J. E. Valle. The present writers have only seen the illustration of this picture. It is larger than the Italian canvases and, what is of greater interest, it is Spanish in its character. The composition has been further transformed, and a woman for the first time figures in the picture. She stands in the fore- ground beside a man, and looks towards the Christ, her hand, on which a ring is seen, is raised upon her bosom, a position Greco uses so often that it has come to be associated with his 44 EL GRECO style. The barbarous repainting of this picture has made it impossible for Senor Cossio to decide whether it is an original or a copy of a lost picture. In either case the work must have been executed in Spain as a variation upon the Italian subject. A picture, probably by Greco, belonging to this period, is “ The Adoration of the Kings/’ in the Vienna Imperial Gallery. This important and interesting work has been added to Greco by Senor Cossio, who founds his judgment on its likeness to other Venetian pictures painted in Greco’s youth. The picture was acquired from the collection of the Archduke Leopold Guillermo, and in the inventory, 1659, it is catalogued as the work of “ Bassano the youth.” Boschini saw the picture and praises it in his “ Carta del navegar pitoresco,” speaking of it as the work of Leandro Bassano. The catalogue of Engarth preserves this attribution, but the later one, by Adolfo Holzhausen, accords it to Giacomo Bassano. Senor Cossio thinks that, by its dimensions, it is " The Adoration of the Kings ” referred to by Melche in his description of the collection, who attributes it to Veronese. The question of attributions is an extremely difficult one. Not only Senor Cossio, but such THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 45 great authorities as Carl Justi and Senor Beruete are in favour of the picture being accorded to Greco ; on the other hand, Senor Sampere says that to him “ it has cost much to allow that Greco can be seen in it.” Unfortunately, up to the present, no signature has been found, thus the evidence rests upon the testimony given by the picture itself. Senor Cossio recognises in the two models of St Joseph and the kneeling king the figures of two of the disciples in the Dresden picture of “ The Healing of the Blind Man.” Even more important is the cold treatment of colour, so different from the colour of the Bassani, and, indeed, different from all the Venetian painters, except Tintoretto, to whom the picture cannot be allotted ; but which strongly calls to mind the colour always used by Greco. Probably the only fact that speaks against Greco’s authorship is that, contrary to his almost invariable custom, we never find “ The Epiphany ” repeated in any other known pictures by him, either in Italy or in Spain. Perhaps the most that can be said is that Senor Cossio’s attribution of the picture to Greco should be preserved until it can either be confirmed, or superseded by definite knowledge. Among the religious pictures in this style, painted 4 6 EL GRECO by Greco in Rome, the most important are the different renderings of “ The Purification of the Temple/' of which the two Italian pictures are in London. One, the famous Yarborough picture, was brought from the collection of the Duke of Buckingham, where it figured, in 1758, as the work of Greco ; but later, by a strange carelessness, it was attributed to Veronese, although it shows our painter's usual signature in Greek characters, placed clearly on the lower part, and towards the centre, of the picture. The other example, much smaller and painted on wood, is at Richmond, where for long it was considered a Tintoretto. It is difficult, from a comparison of the two pictures, to decide which was the earlier rendering of the subject. The Richmond pic- ture, in its wealth of accessories — the birds, partridges and rabbits — points to an earlier and more primitive style, in which we see perhaps more clearly than in any early picture Greco's affinity with the Byzantine- Cretan painters ; but, on the other hand, there is not in the Yarborough picture the progress, either in the composition or technique — the progress we find, for instance, between the Dresden and the Parma pictures of “ The Healing of the Blind THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 47 Man ” — which we should expect if this picture were the second rendering. Indeed, there is more progress in the Richmond canvas, especially in the painting of the marble palace which forms the background of the picture. Senor Cossio, for these reasons, is inclined to place the painting of the Richmond picture after that of the larger and more important Yarborough work. The peculiarites of its style, the small scale on which it is painted, as well as a certain diffused brilliance in its colour may be explained, as Carl Justi suggests, by the influence of the miniatures of Clovio. The picture certainly is a proof of Greco’s skill in this branch of art. The Yarborough picture has an added his- torical interest in the group of the four painters who are placed in the right-hand foreground of the canvas. Greco has presented in three of these vigorously painted heads his master Titian, Michael Angelo, and his friend, Julio Clovio. The figures are arranged, it is sup- posed, according to the influence they exercised upon the painter. The question remains as to the personality of the fourth figure, the young man with the mane of hair, very peculiar at this time when all men, even artists, went shaved. The only known exception is Raphael. And 48 EL GRECO for this reason, doubtless, the catalogue of the collection of the Duke of Buckingham, which fails to recognise the head of Michael Angelo, states the young man to be the portrait of the beloved Renaissance master. Carl Justi is con- fident that this young man is a portrait of Greco himself, holding that such representation of his person was natural, and is explained by his inti- mate relations with Clovio and the debt he owed to the teaching and inspiration of the three masters. The learned German points out, too, the singular position of the young man’s hand, the index finger of the right-hand pointing to himself as if to indicate his authorship of the work, and also his relation to these older painters ; as if he said : “To these I owe all that I can do ; I follow their great teaching.” Senor Sampere holds the same opinion. But there is difficulty in accepting this young man as the portrait of Greco. It does not agree with our idea of his personality. There is another objection. In the earlier Parma picture of “The Healing of the Blind Man” — as Senor Cossio points out — we see in the extreme left a young unknown man, evidently a portrait, whose presence is very difficult to explain unless it is the portrait of the painter. It is evident that this is not the same youth who figures in THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 49 the Yarborough picture. Certainly this beardless boy, with dark hair and nervous features, is much nearer to our conception of the Greco. The decision is a difficult one, which we must leave to a later chapter, when we come to consider the known, and supposed, portraits that Greco has left of himself. The third picture of this subject, “ The Purifica- tion of the Temple,” is in Madrid in the collection of Senor de Beruete, but the canvas was shown in London at the Exhibition of Spanish pictures in 1901. This work belongs to a later period and must be counted with Greco’s Spanish work. The quality of the execution of this singular work, and the analogy it offers with pictures painted much later, places it in a special position as a work of transition that links the Italian epoch of youth with the Spanish epoch of fulfilment (Plate 21). There is no change in the actual com- position of the picture ; the scene of the background is the same ; the male figures are identical ; even their attitudes are repeated. Yet the difference between this work and the London pictures is as great as it well can be. The subject has become dramatic. The action has been con- centrated and simplified ; the unnecessary nude children, the cage of doves, and all the trifling D 50 EL GRECO accessories have been removed. The figures have gained in individuality — become alive ; and a splendid idea of movement is gained. But perhaps the change is shown most clearly in the new type of the women. Contrast the figure in the Madrid picture, who advances through the portico on the right, with a basket on her head, or the woman with her left arm lifted in such expressive attitude, in the foreground, with the women in the London pictures. These early women express nothing fresh for the history of art; Veronese and others had painted such women before ; but the women of the later Madrid pic- ture quiver with a life that is new. Tradition here gives place to personality. We have in this picture the seal of El Greco’s originality ; he has liberated himself from any youthful imita- tions of the Renaissance masters. Tintoretto alone can have been remembered in painting this animated “ Purification of the Temple.” The small picture of the same subject in the National Gallery, London, which was presented in 1895 by Sir J. Charles Robinson, is, from its inferior technical execution, and still more from its loss of the spirit of the composition, a repetition, perhaps a copy — and not a very good one — of the original at Madrid. There are yet other replicas THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 51 of this picture : two belonging to private owners in Spain, and one, in a smaller size, which was recently put up for sale in Paris. Was El Greco under the influence of Tintoretto at this time, as the majority of his biographers suppose ? The question is a difficult one ; the inventing of influences to explain the art of any painter carries dangers, and this is especially so in the case of a personality like that of Greco. In Senor Beruete's rendering of “ The Cleansing of the Temple ” we find characteristics of the same nature as those in the pictures of Tintoretto — namely, concentrated action and movement, the lengthened and spare figures of such vital intensity of type, the decided contrasts of light and shade, the rapid, almost fragmentary brush-strokes and the new uses of colour ; but as these character- istics are common to them both, arising, it would seem, from their temperaments, it does not follow that the older master had any conscious and direct influence on the young Greco. Indeed it seems exceedingly unlikely that Greco was an imitator of Tintoretto. The resemblances which certainly exist in their art may be explained by the theory that the instinct which guided them both towards the passionate interpretation of a scene was the same — it was the new unrest of the counter- 52 EL GRECO Reformation ; the progressive development of their characters in the same direction causing an even increasing resemblance in their art, though in many ways their respective manner of painting was different. El Greco, even at the beginning, saw life in more fevered agitation and less broadly than Tintoretto ; his colour, too, is more daring, more expressive. The influence of Michael Angelo on Greco is perhaps more certain than that which is attributed to Tintoretto. Senor Cossio sees this influence, which he notes especially in the Dresden picture of “ The Healing of the Blind Man.” The figures of the young and the old man who occupy a position in the centre of the picture must, he thinks, have been executed after Greco had seen and studied the paintings of the Sistine chapel. This influence of Michael Angelo is noted by Captain Cook, whose judgment on the Greco is the most trustworthy in the first half of the nineteenth century. He writes of the painter in his “ Viage ” : “ He drew like Michael Angelo and coloured like the Venetians.” The strange perspective contraction of Greco's figures, as well as their vigorous and, what Senor Cossio calls, their “ sculpture accent ” may well have been learnt from Michael Angelo. But again we are reminded of a similarity of temperament THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 53 between the great Roman and the Greco ; and again such apparent influence may be explained by the fact that both were stirred by the same passionate life. We may dismiss altogether the influence exer- cised by Titian on his pupil ; from him Greco can have learnt nothing except technical dexterity, as his earliest known pictures, the two renderings of “ The Healing of the Blind Man,” testify. These works have points of contact with Michael Angelo, with Tintoretto, even with Veronese, none with Titian. Indeed this pupilship, though established by Clovio’s letter, counts for nothing in the formation of Greco. Perhaps it is not necessary to seek to discover the origin of the style of the early works of Greco in any extraneous influences ; it seems more prob- able that such style arose out of the special tem- perament of the painter, who, far from trying to form his art upon his master’s, avoided imitation, and, from the first, began making his own ex- periments and expressing his personality. In his use of palaces and marble-paved piazzas for his backgrounds, in the choice of some of his models — thewomenin his first pictures, for instance — as well as, in some measure, in his use of colour, he yielded certainly to the influence of his Venetian training ; 54 EL GRECO as he did later to the inspiration of Michael Angelo in Rome. Yet, granting this, we already see de- finitely the originality of the young Cretan painter. These early religious pictures are what we should expect from the later works that we know in Spain. To this period belongs the portrait-picture, supposed to be St Jerome, in the National Gallery, London, which came from the Hamil- ton Palace collection, where it was falsely at- tributed to Titian and supposed to be a portrait of Cornaro from the inscription on the book : “ Cornaro Aet, sues 100-1556,” to which the right hand of the figure points, though such inscription is clearly a later addition. El Greco must have painted it at the same time as “The Cleansing of the Temple,” as we recognise the same model in the old man who stands beside the Christ and speaks to the young man with his hand upon his breast, in the Madrid picture (Plate 21). It seems impossible to form an opinion as to the personality of the portrait. Certainly it is not Ludovico Cornaro, for this old man bears no resemblance to his authentic portrait in the Pitti Gallery ; neither can it be, as Carl Justi suggests, a portrait of Cardinal Quiroga, since a portrait of the Cardinal, agreed to be by Greco, has appeared recently in the Madrid market, and THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 55 is now in the possession of Senor de Beruete. It is probably, as the catalogue of the National Gallery says, a presentment of St Jerome, which would explain the many repetitions of the picture. And this view is confirmed by Senor Cossio, who has seen in Madrid an old copy of the picture, belonging to Don Frederico Fernandez, in which the saint is shown with the characteristic trumpet in the upper left corner of the canvas. There is, however, another suggestion which the present writer would hazard, that the picture is not a portrait, nor a presentment of any particular saint, but simply a study of a model that has interested the painter and been repeated for this reason. Among the five known repetitions of the picture the two most important are : the one which until two years since was in the cathedral of Valladolid, but is now in America, and the fine picture in Madrid that belongs to the Marques del Arco (Plate 30). The former is the only example that bears the signature of Greco. The Museum Bonnat, of Bayona, has also another repetition in a smaller size, which was formerly in the pos- session of the Marques de Castro Serna ; it is without the hands and books. It now only remains, in order to finish all the known works ot these years of Greco’s youth in 56 EL GRECO Venice and Rome, to examine the genre pictures, “ The Boy lighting a Coal/’ in the Naples National Museum, and the larger and more important work, “ Raising a Flame,” of which there are two re- plicas, one in Paris, belonging to Monsieur Charles Cherfils, and one in London, which was brought recently from Madrid and shown at the Carfax Gallery (Plate 50). To the student of Spanish painting these pictures are the most important of all Greco's first works ; we see in them his true affiliation with the art of the country that was to become his by adoption. The religious pictures, though they reveal the young painter’s personality, are, if we except the Madrid rendering of “The Cleans- ing of the Temple ” which was painted later and perhaps in Spain, Venetian works, which have been atrributed without difficulty to the Venetian masters. But these scenes of daily life could have been painted by no Italian except Caravaggio, 1 on the other hand, they might well belong to Spain. Here, indeed, a powerful personality speaks ; these two pictures carry us forward to Velazquez and to Goya. 1 Sen or Cossio finds a resemblance in “ The Raising a Flame" to Lotto’s picture,” The Marriage" in the Prado, Madrid, but such an analogy would seem to be a mistake. THE VENETIAN-ROMAN PERIOD 5 7 It seems certain that Greco painted the Naples picture first, to serve, according to his custom, as a preparation for the larger picture. The boy holds a lighted candle in his right hand, and in his left a piece of coal. He looks down, and is blowing to ignite the coal. His head, vigorously and splendidly painted, is the best part of the picture. That this spirited study, which was acquired by Naples from the Farnese Gallery, should have passed as the work of Julio Clovio is an example of the absurdities of attribution. The two replicas of “ Raising a Flame ” are almost identical. Senor Cossio thinks that the one in Paris was executed first and belongs to the painter’s residence in Rome, while the London picture seems to be Spanish. The later work bears the usual signature of Greco. It is to be deplored that both pictures have suffered from repainting and repeated varnishings. Yet the superiority of the work impresses the beholder when he contemplates the simplicity of the arrangement whereby the effect is gained, the reality of the figures, and the splendid and un- usual humour of the scene. The two figures, a woman and a young man, are life-size, of half- length, and stand out from a dark background. The woman holds the candle and piece of coal, upon EL GRECO 58 which she blows. An ape appears looking over her right shoulder ; the animal is held by the chain. The heads might well pass for portraits, so true is the intensity of expression and character, which is the more remarkable as the eyes are lowered and hidden. The accessories and the dresses are painted with great vigour, notably the blue mantle of the woman and the reds in the boy’s dress. The illumination of the faces by the candle and the gleaming ashes of the coal are splendidly given. It is enough to see this picture to yield to the genius of Greco. IV DOMINICO GRECO’S LIFE IN TOLEDO, 15 75 or 1576 to 1614 The same silence prevails respecting the life of Dominico Greco in Spain. His pictures, with the dates and signatures, a lawsuit undertaken with the chapter of Toledo cathedral, and certain con- tracts and receipts are the few facts we have to guide us. Shortly after his coming to Toledo, which event must be placed in the years 1575 or 1576, 1 the work of executing a picture for the cathedral was en- trusted to Greco by the chapter. This is im- portant. We are not concerned at this point with the picture itself, and must confine our inquiry to the historical interest it offers in giving us certain dates, as well as some hints as to the character of our painter, and the estimation in which work was held. The picture is the famous “ Christ despoiled of His Raiments on Calvary/’ in Spain familiarly 1 See chap. ii. p. 31 , et seq. 59 6o EL GRECO called “ el Expolio ” ; it is still in its first position in the cathedral of Toledo. The commission for “ The Expolio ” was given in 1577, the year in which Greco finished his first Spanish work, “ The Ascension ” of Santo Domingo el Antigua, as we know from the date placed after his signature on the picture, and it is presumable that it was the success of this work which led the chapter to employ him to work for the cathedral. Probably the new picture was begun on the 2nd of July, as on that date Greco received 400 reals on account of the work, according to the custom in the contracts of that period. Two years later, in the early part of 1579, when the eight pictures for the screens and altars of Santo Domingo had also been painted, “ The Expolio ” was finished ; but it was not de- livered to the chapter until 29th September in the same year. Before the picture was given up we find Greco in disagreement with the chapter as to its price. The quarrel was serious and in- volved a lawsuit. By good fortune the details have been preserved ; the true history is as follows : On 15th June 1579 *h e chapter, as was their custom, appointed as the valuers of “ The Expolio ” Nicolas de Vergara, architect and LIFE IN TOLEDO 61 sculptor of the cathedral, and Luis de Velasco, its painter ; while Martinez de Castaneda, a sculptor of Toledo, and Baltasar de Castro Combron, a painter well known in Murcia, acted for El Greco. Further, in order to facilitate a speedy agreement an umpire was nominated on 27th June, Alego de Montoya, a renowned silverwork assayer of Toledo, to whom the case was to be referred, and whose judgment was to be final. The examination was hurried, and on 5th July the valuers for Greco gave a report entirely in his favour, in which they said that “ the merit of the picture was so great that in their estimation it could not be priced or valued,” but added, after further praise, “ that, taking into account the value of such works at these times, the price paid for the said pic- ture should be nine hundred ducats of 375 maravedis each ducat. On the other side the representatives of the chapter answered on nth July, “ that such valuation was excessive and out of the bounds of reason ” ; moreover, they objected to the composition of the picture, stating that “ certain improprieties must be re- moved — the presence of the Marys near to the Christ, and other arrangements, which do not belong to the holy scene and obstruct its meaning.” The inquiry completed, Alego de Montoya gave 62 EL GRECO his judgment, on 23rd July, in the following terms : “Having seen the said painting which has been executed by the said Domenico, and the appraisements of the judges appointed by both parties, and other persons who understand the said painting, its execu- tion and admirable finish, and the reasons which the said judges have given ; and seeing that the said paint- ing is one of the best that I have seen ; and that, if it were to be estimated for its valuable qualities, it would be valued at a much higher sum, which but few would care to pay for it ; but in view of the nature of the times, and the price paid generally for the paintings of great artists in Castile ; and in view of, and taking into consideration all the above and all other points that were necessary, I find that I must order, and I do order, that for the said painting the said Garcia de Loaysa, in the name of the said Holy Church, shall give and pay to the said Domeniko Theotokopuli three thousand and five hundred reals y and above this sum the said Domeniko cannot ask, nor must he ask, anything more for the said painting, and as regards the judges for the said church, they say that it is improper for the Marys to be introduced into the story ; this matter I leave to some theologians versed in such matters that they may decide upon it.” In spite of this decision the quarrel continued. Greco delayed his reply ; and on 23rd September we find him before the Mayor of Toledo, who com- manded that “ the improprieties in the picture should be altered, and that the Marys should be LIFE IN TOLEDO 63 removed and placed apart.” Greco, tired by useless resistance, yielded. “ I am prepared to take out of the picture what they want taken out,” he said, at the conclusion of his reply, “ and with this finish the case.” What saved the picture ? There seems every reason to believe that Greco intended to keep his contract. Possibly the artists of Toledo interfered and protested against the mutilation of the composition. Be this as it may, the holy women remained ; and Greco’s greatest picture, of this period, was saved. More- over, he retained the goodwill of the chapter, and three years later, in March 1582, we find him com- missioned to design and carve a decorative altar frame for “ The Expolio.” For this work he re- ceived two thousand six hundred maravedis, a price much in excess of the value given to the picture itself, which is only explained by the art of the sculptor being held in more account in Toledo than that of the painter. The loss of this sculptured work is to be deplored, considering the praises it received from all who saw it. 1 It is significant that a few months later, on the occasion of painting his next picture, we find Greco again in dispute. This time the quarrel was with no 1 See the chapter on the sculptured works of Greco, p. 174. 6 4 EL GRECO less person than the King, Philip II., an occurrence unusual, indeed, at a time and in a country when painter was synonymous with courtier. The ad- miration given to “ The Expolio ” led, without doubt, to this coveted royal commission to paint “ The History of St Maurice and his Companions ” for one of the altars of the Escorial. The circum- stances that follow are the more extraordinary. There is positive evidence that Greco at first re- fused to work at the picture, offering the reason, which must have been a pretence, that he was short of money and colours. A royal order, dated at Zurita, 25th April 1580, and addressed to the prior of the monastery, states that a commission in past days had been entrusted to Dominico Theotocopuli, Greek painter, residing in Toledo, and further adds, " the work was not carried on for want of money and fine colours,” and for this reason the command is given “ that the said painter be supplied with money, also with the fine colours that he asks for, and especially ultra- marine, that the work may be executed with brevity as is suitable in my service.” We have no further details of the disagreement. El Greco finished the picture, but it did not meet with Philip II.’s approval ; and at once it was decided not to place it in the prominent position LIFE IN TOLEDO 65 for which it had been designed. The earliest notice relative to this affair, which is quoted by Senor Cossio, is that of Father Siguenza who, writing of the monastery in 1605, says, " There is here, in the salas capitulares of the Escorial, a picture of 4 San Maurico and his Soldiers/ by a Dominico Greco, who has come to Toledo, and there made excellent things. The picture was designed for the proper altar of the saint, but it did not satisfy his Majesty ; it is not much, because it satisfies few ; though they say that it has great art, and that its author has much knowledge and that excellent things can be seen from his hand.” The significance of this statement is great. Thus, from the first it would seem that the art of the Greco aroused discussion and division of opinion. This is what we should expect ; it is the reward of all innovators in art : those great ones who say what they have to say for themselves instead of repeating the accepted formulas. Yet it is the more surprising that there should be no written records of his work. Were his contempor- aries forced into silence by this royal disagree- ment, no writer having a pen bold enough to comment upon it ? It is possible. That Greco became famous in Toledo we know. He was entrusted with the decoration of a great E 66 EL GRECO number of churches ; he painted many pictures, his masterpiece being “ The Burial of the Count of Orgaz,” in the church St Tome ; he also executed portraits of the most noted persons of the day. This proves that the position he held in Toledo was a high one. But of his life during these thirty-five or forty years spent in the Spanish city we know almost nothing. It would seem that he never left Toledo. We have no record that he did so. We know that he was married, but we have no infor- mation as to the personality of his wife. Llaguno's statement that in Toledo, where he established himself, he contracted marriage, cannot be ac- cepted, as it was made for the first time two hundred years after the death of Greco. He had a son, George Manuel, who attained some fame as an architect, and was appointed architect and sculptor to the cathedral from 1625 to his death in 1631. He was also a painter, and it is probable that his pictures have helped in creating the confusion which exists respecting a great number of the works attributed to his father. Had Dominico Greco any other children ? The portrait of the beautiful girl, in the collection of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, which was shown in London in the Spanish Exhibition, 1901, has been LIFE IN TOLEDO 67 taken to be the portrait of his daughter. This is a mistake ; for, as Senor Cossio points out, this picture belongs certainly, by its manner of paint- ing to the Italian period, when Greco was a young man. Senor Sampere has suggested that, instead of his daughter, it may be a portrait of Greco's wife. Senor Cossio does not accept the suggestion. He has discovered a picture of extreme interest, which was in Seville in the possession of Senor Goyena until the year 1902, when it was acquired by foreign traders and has unfortunately been lost sight of. The picture introduces us to a family interior, which may well be the family of Greco. By its technique the picture belongs to the second period in Toledo — that is, from 1585 to about 1590 ; it is splendidly painted, and shows an intimacy that suggests a family portrait group. There are four half-length figures of women, and a child ; two of the women — the one spinning and the one with the child — appear to be servants. Senor Cossio notes the important fact that, in the pictures of this time and not before — for instance, in “ The Gloria of the Burial of Count Orgaz ” (Plate 69), “ The Virgin ” of San Jose (Plate 95), “ The Assumption ” of San Vicente, in Toledo (Plate 89), and “ The Holy Family" of the Prado (Plate 3) — there figures as a model for the Virgin the young woman who sews, 68 EL GRECO while the old women may be recognised as Santa Ana and Santa Isabel. These figures are distinct from the models who served Greco in his earlier pictures. Again, the age of George Manuel, the only child of Greco of whom we have certain knowledge, corresponds with the age of the child in this picture. These facts, Senor Cossio says, “ incline him to believe that this family interior is that of the Greco.” 1 George Manuel appears as a model in subsequent pictures ; we see him in the beautiful youth in " The San Martin” of San Jose (Plate 94) ; and again, somewhat older, he holds the plan in the wonderful “ Vista of Toledo ” in the Provincial Museum (Plate 123). The two portraits are of the same youth, and as the dates of the two pictures correspond with the age of Greco’s son, it seems probable that we may accept the personality of the portraits. There is, unfortunately, less certainty as to „ which are the authentic portraits Greco has left us of himself. Lost is the portrait which the young painter brought with him when he came as a student to Rome ; the picture of which Julio Clovio speaks with such praise, saying in his letter to the Cardinal Farnese “ that its enviable proficiency 1 Senor Cossio, “ El Greco,” pp. 45-49. LIFE IN TOLEDO 69 compelled the admiration of the Roman painters ” ; 1 lost, too, is another portrait which must have been authentic : the one that Pacheco would use in his “ Arte de la Pintura ” to accompany his notice of El Greco, as was his invariable custom . 2 The portrait which up till now has been accepted as authentic is the half-length of a young man, with the palette held in the left hand, which was in the collection of Louis Philippe, afterwards in the Palace of San Telmo, and now in the Museum of Seville, where it is catalogued as an auto-portrait. But SenorCossio rejects this beautiful work — which is signed by Greco — as a portrait of the painter himself on account of the dress. The narrow folded frill that circles the head came into fashion only in the reign of Philip III., a time when Greco was already old. It might perhaps be suggested that the frill was added at a later date for some reason after the picture was painted. But unfortunately — for it is difficult to yield this portrait of Greco — such an hypothesis is inadmissible, the execution of the portrait being evidently of a later date than belonged to Greco at the age this young man is represented. From a technical point of view, it 1 See p. 28. 2 Many of these portraits in Pacheco’s book are missing ; one instance is that of Velazquez. 70 EL GRECO is one of the best of his works. Senor Cossio places it in his latest period, 1604-1614. We have left the portraits of himself that Greco is supposed to have introduced into his pictures. There are the early portraits, already noted : 1 that of the young man with the long hair, who stands with Titian, Michael Angelo and Clovio, in the Yarborough picture of “ The Cleansing of the Temple ” and that of the dark-haired youth, so much nearer to our conception of Greco, in “ The Healing of the Blind Man,” in the Parma Museum. Which is the portrait of Greco ? Carl Justi and Senor Sampere accept the long- haired youth as Greco, and discredit the sug- gestion, founded on the unusual long hair, of it being a portrait of Raphael. Senor Cossio 2 is inclined to the opposite view ; speaking of the youth in the Parma picture, |^e says : “ I think that perhaps, amongst the supposed portraits of El Greco, there is no other with such appearance of authenticity as that of Parma.” But this view was shaken when he saw in the Salon Amare, Madrid, a small ancient copy of the Yarborough picture. In this canvas the three portraits of Titian, Michael Angelo and Clovio are unchanged, but the young man is much older, and though 1 See pp. 46-48. 2 Senor Cossio’s “El Greco,” pp. 29-38. LIFE IN TOLEDO 7i the mane of hair remains, he bears no resemblance whatever to Raphael. Unless we reject this picture, it is difficult to explain this change except on the supposition that this is the portrait of Greco. Yet the difficulty remains; this long-haired youth has not the character of Greco. A more certain conclusion at present seems impossible. We come to the later portraits of Greco, and again we are overwhelmed with conflicting sug- gestions. There is the portrait of an old man, in the possession of Senor de Beruete (Plate 24), which passes as the portrait of Greco. Supposed portraits of the painter have been found in the centurion of " The Expolio ” (Plates 79 and 37) ; in the St Joseph of “ The Holy Family,” in the Prado (Plate 3), and in the dark-bearded man who figures both in “The San Mauri cio ” and in “ The Burial of Count Orgaz” (Plates 65, 69) facing the spec- tator. Can we accept these as portraits of Greco ? One point may be noticed: there is a likeness in each of these faces ; and again — in some of the pictures — in the beautifully painted nervous hands. The type of the face is full of expression and character. We notice the long, striking profile, the strong nose, straight mouth, a little cruel, and the restless eyes, with such depth and vivacity of expression. 72 EL GRECO In each case the forehead is high. It is the face of genius ; strained a little, it is true, and of such spiritual delicacy that the flesh seems to be ab- sorbed by the refining spirit. We are interested still further in the secrets of this strange tempera- ment ; we can understand also how the con- suming passion and sentiment of his paintings were based upon the character of the man. Nothing of interest is known about Domini co Greco’s later years. The same vagueness and mystery prevails. The only established fact is the record of his burial, with the date of his death. 1 Senor Cossio, to whose research we owe the few new facts of Greco’s life, has discovered the house in Toledo which was occupied by George Manuel Theotocopuli, and six other persons, Dona Gregoria de Guzman, Dona Catalina de los Morales, Tomas Xiles, Arna Munoz, Quiteria Morena, and M a ana Nerandez, 2 in 1628, fourteen years after the death of our painter. This house, which Senor Cossio believes is the one that is now No. 5 in the Callijon del Transito (Plate 99), may have been the home of Greco ; and the seven persons named may possibly have been members of his family. Such are the valuable suggestions of Senor 1 See pp. 19-22. 2 Senor Cossio's “ El Greco,” pp. 41-44. LIFE IN TOLEDO 73 Cossio ; and the same learned authority has re- covered for us, from the municipal archives of Toledo, the signature of the painter, the only autograph we have apart from the signatures of his pictures. It may be inferred from the perusal of these few facts and hints — all that we know — that Dominico Greco was of a strange and passionate disposition. Otherwise, how can we explain that the only facts of his life are connected with his quarrels, first with the chapter of the cathedral and afterwards with his Majesty, Philip II. It is impossible to avoid this conclusion. For we find suggestions of this same temper, strange, silent, yet passionate, in the visit of Pacheco to our painter in Toledo, when he was old, in 1611, of which we have spoken before. 1 Pacheco tells us that El Greco was a student of many things, a writer on art, a great philosopher given to witty sayings, a sculptor and architect, as well as a painter. He speaks of much work that he saw, and in particular of a cupboard in which were models in clay of each picture Greco had finished. How grievous is the loss of these works and these writings ! The two painters talked on many subjects — a conversation to which we shall have 1 “ Arte de la Pintura,” pp. 318-421. 74 EL GRECO to refer later in detail — they discussed the value of colour and its supreme quality in painting ; they spoke of Michael Angelo and his failure as a colourist. But in all the accounts of Pacheco what is significant for us now to note is one sentence in which he sums up the impression he formed of the old Toledan master: ■* He was in all things as singular as in his pain ting.” We have the eulogistic sonnets of Paravicino and Gongora, Greco's great apologists and perhaps his friends, in which they speak of " the famous workshop of his inspired colours ” from whence “ he controlled the passion of the heavens." Nor will it do to overlook the testimony of Guiseppe Martinez, who, though not Greco's con- temporary, doubtless heard him discussed by those who knew him. He too speaks of “ his extravagant disposition." But what he writes in his “ Letters ” is so significant that it is worth while to quote the passage in full : — “At that time, there came from Italy a painter called Dominico Greco ; it is said that he was the pupil of Titian. He settled in the famous and ancient city of Toledo, intro- ducing such an extravagant style that to this day nothing has been seen to equal it ; attempting to discuss it would cause confusion in the soundest minds ; his works being so dissimilar that they do not seem to be by the same hand. He came to this city with a high reputation, so much so that LIFE IN TOLEDO 75 he gave it to be understood that there was nothing superior to his works. In truth, he achieved some works which are worthy of estimation, and which can be put amongst those of famous painters. His nature was extravagant like his paint- ing. It is not known with certainty what he did with his works, as he used to say no price was high enough for them, and so he gave them in pledge to their owners who willingly advanced him what he asked for. He earned many ducats, but spent them in too great pomp and display in his house, to the extent of keeping paid musicians to entertain him at meal-times. His works were many, but the only wealth he left were two hundred unfinished paintings ; he reached an advanced age, always enjoying great fame. He was a famous architect, and very eloquent in his speeches. He had few disciples, as none cared to follow his capricious and extravagant style, which was only suitable for himself.” 1 We capture, in this remarkable account of our painter, some splendid clues and hints of a strangely effective personality. These statements justify the assumption of Dominico Greco’s fame ; they throw added illumination on his remarkable genius and his no less remarkable character. Has a great man ever been more attractively presented ? We think not. What would we not give to know more of that sumptuous life of which the one detail given is so significant ? El Greco engaged salaried musicians to play to him in order to enjoy an additional delight while he ate. But imagination has to fill the place of knowledge ; and we are left to picture 1 “ Practical Letters on the Art of Painting,” p. 188. 76 EL GRECO the introduction of the splendid luxurious life of Venice into the midst of austere and sad Toledo. And there is another point ; we find, at last, an explanation of the mystery of silence in which the facts of El Greco’s life have been lost. It seems certain that this strangely passionate and self-contained character wished that his life should be silent. This is no fanciful idea ; we have proof of such desire in our Greco. We read this meaning into that answer he gave to the Mayor, when asked, in connection with the writ served on him for “ The Expolio,” 1 whether he had been brought to Toledo to paint the retablo of Santo Domingo : “ I am neither bound to say why I came to this city nor to answer the other questions put to me.” This is what we should expect from Greco. Again, there is a circumstance in this same trial that points to the same conclusion. Greco requested the help of an interpreter as he did not understand Spanish. It is inadmissible almost that during the time El Greco had been in Toledo, occupied in painting “ The Expolio ” and the pictures for Santo Domingo, he had not mastered the language sufficiently to make himself under- stood. How then are we to explain his request ? Only on the supposition that his own desire had 1 See pp. 59-62. LIFE IN TOLEDO 77 prevented him from learning the language of the country he had adopted ; unless, indeed, which seems more likely, he simulated, for some reason, an ignorance which was not real. These sug- gestions, if they can be accepted, explain much that is obscure in Greco’s life. It becomes evident that, owing to his special temperament, he may have held aloof from historians and commentators. Their silence — so difficult to explain about the greatest painter who lived and worked in Spain before Ribera and Velazquez — may well have been the result of his own wish. V FIRST PERIOD PICTURES PAINTED IN TOLEDO, 15 75 Or 1576 to 1584. THE PICTURES OF SANTO DOMINGO EL ANTIGUA AND “ THE EXPOLIO.” The nine canvases executed as altar ornaments for Santo Domingo el Antigua and “ The Expolio ” of the cathedral are the principal pictures which belong to Greco’s first period of independent work. The Italian influence persists in these pictures ; we have in them, and especially in “ The Expolio,” the best of all that the young Greek student had learned in Venice and in Rome. But, even as already in the transition picture, the Madrid rendering of “ The Cleansing of the Temple,” we see the development, or rather the co-existence, of our painter's two styles ; on the one hand carefully and thoroughly worked-out qualities, a balanced art remembered from Italy, but with it a power that was his own, that seized the elements in the picture and gave them life — his life. And again, the peculiarities of manner which are seen in embryo in the earlier picture gain greater in- 78 FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 79 sistence ; we are more conscious of the conven- tions with which the name of El Greco is most associated. The first work executed for Santo Domingo was “ The Ascension ” of the central altar (Plate 29). This picture is no longer in the Toledan church ; The “ Ascension ” that now occupies its place is an insignificant copy, made by Don Jose Aparicio, a Court painter of the eighteenth century, in place of the original, which was bought, about 1830, by the Infante Don Sebastian de Bourbon, and which, after various changes of ownership, is now in the Art Institute of Chicago, U.S.A. The loss of Greco’s great picture from Santo Domingo is much to be regretted. It is a work of supreme interest in his artistic evolution. He had chosen for the subject of this, his first picture, by which he must have hoped to establish his reputa- tion in Toledo, a theme common to the great Italian painters. It is certain that he must have known “ The Ascension ” of Titian his master, painted for the altar of Parma, but afterwards removed to the Academy of Venice ; it is less likely that he knew " The Ascensions ” of Tintoretto and Paul Veronese, that are now in the same collection. How does Greco’s picture compare with these great works ? There are points of contact, especially 8o EL GRECO with the masterpiece of Titian, which certainly he remembered in the composition of his picture and in the general arrangement of the figures. The Ascension as a subject, dramatic though it is, was foreign to Greco’s temperament, which is proved by the fact that, contrary to his custom, he never repeated the picture. Yet no earlier work estab- lishes his claim to audacity of character better than this picture. Never perhaps till now had Greco been more sincere. This “Ascension ” is conceived in a different spirit ; it strikes chords which are not echoed in the Venetian pictures. And these new notes are of character and reality ; the subject of the Ascension has been brought from the realm of heaven to that of the earth. The Virgin, a figure of perfect dignity, rises from the tomb, which is not hidden as in Titian’s picture, nor made sumptuous with decoration, as in that of Veronese. The angels on either side of the Virgin are grave women, of life-size, different indeed from the angels in the Venetian pictures. The custom- ary figure of God the Father has been removed. But the greatest difference is in the earthly group of the mourners who watch the event from below. Greco, following the arrangement of Titian, divides them in two equal groups, which he places on either side of the sepulchre. Spanish and FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 81 Venetian types are strangely commingled ; we recognise several of the models who figure in the earlier pictures, “ The Healing of the Blind Man ” and " The Cleansing of the Temple ” (Plate 21) ; others are new, and belong to Spain. What is it that separates these figures from the crowds who watch the Ascension in Titian’s picture, and those in the compositions of Veronese or Tintoretto ? 1 Greco’s figures, who stand and quietly discuss the event, are portraits of natural men ; the figures in the Venetian pictures are types whose personality we only realise as part of the composition. By this portrait group Greco appears as the painter of Spain and the predecessor of Velazquez. In “ The Ascension ” of Santo Domingo we see in embryo the qualities which attain their full development in “ The Burial of Count Orgaz.” In 1577, the year in which " The Ascension ” was finished, 2 Greco received a fresh mark of his fame in Toledo, and he was commissioned to paint “ Christ Disrobed of his Raiment on Calvary” for the great altar in the sacristry of the cathedral (Plate 79). “ The Expolio ” is the best known of all Greco’s pictures. It has received high praise. Carl Justi, 1 The affinity which El Greco undoubtedly shows in many of his pictures with the passionate art of Tintoretto is not present in “ The Ascension ” of Santo Domingo. 2 See pp. 58-59. F 8 2 EL GRECO always temperate in his judgments of Greco, calls it " the most original picture of the seventeenth century in Spain.” Senor Cossio, too, lavishes enthusiastic admiration upon it, and indeed “ The Expolio ” has been praised so often that nothing remains to be added, except that it justifies its reputation. It is right to consider this picture the masterpiece of the first manner of El Greco. It is splendidly painted. But, granting this, it is a less individual work than “ The Ascension ” or the remaining pictures of Santo Domingo that were painted contemporaneously with it. “ The Expolio ” is the last Italian picture that Greco painted. Its inspiration is the same as in the pictures of “ The Healing of the Blind Man ” and “The Cleansing of the Temple”; the qualities that we noted in these pictures culminate in “ The Expolio, ” which really closes our painter's Venetian-Roman period, as “ The Ascension ” begins that of his Spanish epoch. To the student of painting the great interest of the picture is the evolution of the Greco which it exhibits. If we compare it with the latest of the Italian pictures, “ The Cleansing of the Temple,” belonging to Senor de Beruete (Plate 21), we find Greco still faithful to the same Venetian traditions ; but he is even more preoccupied with attaining FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 83 perfect unity of the composition, the quality which we saw him already working out in the different renderings of the earlier pictures. There is an unusual power of control in the grouping of the many figures which are circled around the tall, im- pressive Christ, in whose person the whole interest is centred. There are no uncared-for spaces left in this picture ; no wasted interests. It is signifi- cant that the landscape backgrounds of marble palaces, common to all the Italian pictures, have disappeared ; instead, we have a background that is a part of the picture itself, formed by the figures and the row of high-rising spears. Greco uses the models of the previous pictures, and in some cases the postures and attitudes are identical ; but there is great progress in realism ; the individuality is heightened in the figures of “ The Expolio.” All the heads have wonderful character. What a contrast the brutal executioner, who bends on the right of the picture to bore the holes in the cross, offers to the three sweet Marys! — the women whom Greco, so fortunately for us, did not remove. What distinction in the armed figure of the cen- turion that may be a portrait of Greco ! But all the figures in this picture have the quality of life. No painter in Spain had ever yet attained so high a standard. 8 4 EL GRECO But it is in the treatment of the lights and colour in this canvas that the increase in the pro- gress of Greco is most strikingly manifest. The greater facility and assurance in a work painted so near in time to his former works displays again his originality. The new use of colour, tried experimentally in " The Cleansing of the Temple,” is here perfected. Greco gives up finally the warm and glowing tints that form the basis of Venetian colouring and adopts a series of blues and pale carmines. We note also the use of the ash-greys which are so frequent in his later works. “ The Expolio ” proclaims Greco a master of colour. The predominating key is cold, the lights too are cold ; but the clear tones are full of light, and strong contrasts between the masses of pure colour — yellow, whites, pale carmines, blues and violet — give accent. Colouring was Greco’s greatest and best dis- covery. In its colour this picture is Spanish, though by its characteristic composition it belongs to the Italian works. It was in Toledo that Greco perfected the use of cold tones, drawing his inspira- tion from the new landscape around him. To be sure of this it is only necessary to know that remark- able landscape, " A Bird’s-Eye View of Toledo ” (Plates£i22, 123), which he painted later, where FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 85 the colour represents the strange exquisite colour of the Spanish city. Toledo possesses an allure- ment of colour — illusive, cold and luminous — and it is reasonable to suppose that Greco was wrought upon by this unusual and wonderful colour ; and, remembering his taste for cold tones, we must be confident that it was Toledo that finally led him to anticipate modem colouring at a time when everyone else was painting in warm tones. There are several replicas of “ The Expolio,” as indeed there are of most of the important works of Greco. One of these, formerly in the Gallery Manfin of Venice, the most interesting of all, is considered by Senor Cossio to be an earlier work belonging to the transition Italian-Spanish period and painted probably in preparation for the Toledo picture. It was Professor Carl Justi who recovered this picture to Greco, which in 1874 was attributed to Barocci. We know of three more replicas of “ The Expolio ” ; one is in Rome ; the second in Seville, the property of Don. R. Abreu ; the third, a smaller picture, in which the three Marys and the man in the foreground are absent, is also in Spain, in Xerez de la Frontera, and belongs to Don Gaulterio Buck (Plate 37) . But we have not seen these pictures, and in consequence any esti- mate of their merit is useless. There is in the 86 EL GRECO Prado a copy of “ The Expolio ” signed Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli. It is not a work of much merit and is chiefly interesting from the suggestion it offers of the confusion that has without doubt arisen between the Greco’s works and those of his son. In the three years (1577-1579), the time in which “ The Expolio ” was painted, Greco also completed the remaining pictures for the altars of Santo Domingo el Antigua. This church, situated on the outskirts of Toledo, contains the works of Greco’s youth ; it is a fitting museum for them. 1 We owe the coming of our painter to Spain to the rebuilding of this church in 1575, a work carried out under the direction of Don Diego de Castilla, Dean of Toledo ; and in memory — as the Latin inscriptions around the church tell us — of Doha Maria de Silva, an eminent lady, who, having lived for thirty-eight years and died in the monastery of the church, left her fortune to this end. Palomino states that Greco was the architect and sculptor of the church. This is a mistake, another instance of the inaccuracies common to the Spanish historian, but the error 1 The student of Greco’s works must visit the church in the early hours of the morning ; it is only opened for Mass and afterwards permission to enter — always difficult to obtain — is refused. FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 87 has been repeated, in spite of the fact that we have certain knowledge that the architect employed was the celebrated Nicolas de Vergara, while Hernando de Avila furnished the design for the altar ornaments. 1 Senor Cossio, who examines this question with his usual care, believes, how- ever, that although Hernando de Avila may have furnished the first design, it was Greco who carried out the constructing of the ornaments of the altars. He forms his judgment on the style of the work, which is Venetian in its character ; the Toledo altar resembling the altars of Santa Maria Formosa and Santa Barbara of Palma, and being different from all the other previous altars in Spain. Its pictures are the great glory of Santo Do- mingo. Besides “ The Ascension/’ Greco painted compositions for each of the three great altars. Among these the most important work is “ Christ Dead in the Arms of God the Father ” (Plate 2), which unfortunately, like “ The Ascension,” has been removed from its position, and is now in the Prado at Madrid. Like that picture, too, this canvas is of extreme interest in the evolution of Greco ; the passionate and personal 1 Cean Bermudez published the accounts of the payments made to the two artists for this work. 88 EL GRECO style which dominates his later manner can here be seen in its first and finest utterance. By the study of Michael Angelo, Greco had learnt in Rome the extreme expression that could be given to his figures. He introduces a new type into Spanish pictures ; strong figures of a primeval, almost brutal, grandeur. The colour is used to strengthen the expression. In this more passionate work we note a more vivid use of colour — blues, green, orange, crimson, lavender : there is a fine quality in the paint itself. The Trinity was a suit- able theme for Greco, inspired, as we know he was , 1 by the dark spirit of the counter- Reformation ; it displays the combination of realism with transcendental idealism, which is the strangest quality of Greco’s art. Sehor Cossio urges that Greco in painting “The Christ Dead ” was influenced by the print of Albert Diirer of “The Trinity,” which he believes he must have seen. We must confess that we can see no reason for this continuous seeking of “ influences ” to account for the differences of style in these early pictures. Was it not, rather, that Greco was experimenting in the road that is travelled by all great ones — the process of finding himself. With “ The Trinity ” we must place the splendid 1 See p. 13. FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 89 “St John the Baptist,” which occupies the place on the left of the altar, while the companion picture, “ St John the Evangelist,” 1 is on the right (Plates 82 and 83). The latter figure shows a sensitive- ness of type we do not find often except in Greco’s portraits. The Baptist is the stronger representa- tion. The nude figure, loosely wrapped in a cloak, with the almost fleshless body, is the emaciated elongated type that belongs alike to Greco and to Tintoretto. Again we are carried forward to the later accentuated Spanish manner. But how finely expressive it is of the Prophet of the Wilderness ! Two similar pictures of San Benito and San Bernardo, that should occupy the rectangulars over the middle spaces of the altar, are also lost to Santo Domingo. The pictures of the saints now in this place are inferior copies. It is not known when the originals were removed, but probably it was at the same time as “The Ascension ” and “ Christ Dead.” Senor Cossio believes that the first of these pictures is the San Benito, which passed into the possession of the Infante Don Sebastian, while the latter may well be a picture he was fortunate enough to see in Paris, in the collection of Senor Cheramy. An excellent repro- duction of the San Bernardo is given in Senor 1 See chap, xi., “ Greco’s Drawings,” p. 177. 90 EL GRECO Cossio’s volume ; from this it is evident that the picture is of great beauty, the fine type of the white-clad figure being equal in dignity as a com- panion to “ St John the Evangelist.” Another canvas of Santo Domingo, perhaps even more interesting than the former pictures, from its abrupt union of intimate realism with transcendental qualities, is " The Adoration of the Shepherds” (Plate 80), which Greco painted for the lateral altar of the Evangelist. The painter has made evident progress from “ The Ascension,” although only about two years can have elapsed between the execution of the two pictures. The change is clearly shown in the type of the Virgin ; the solemn Queen of Heaven has become the Mother of Earth gazing upon her child with human love. The shepherds are rendered in an original and realistic manner. Nothing in this composition recalls the traditional Italian types. But what surprises is the visional quality that triumphs over or, more truly, mingles with the strong realism of the picture. “ The Adoration of the Shepherds ” may be related to “ The Ascension ” of San Jose (Plate 95), one of the finest efforts of Greco’s late life. A passionate effort at impressiveness is seen here ; these figures, so true to life, are turned into symbols, and the FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 9i old sacred story brings a fresh impression of intense spiritual emotion to the spectator. This is the test of vital work ; it is personality that counts in art. This tendency towards realism is even more pronounced in “ The Ascension of Christ ” (Plate 81), the picture that belongs to the col- lateral altar of Epistle. The transcendental qualities of the former composition are absent. The picture is nearer in some points of contact to “ The Ascension.” This calm Christ, so far removed in attitude and expression from the triumph of other Resurrections, may be placed with the Virgin of that picture. The nude figure, tall and angular, as we have learnt to expect from Greco, stands out from a very effective back- ground formed by the flowing cloak and a banner that is held in the left hand. What impresses us is the dignity and expression of the ascending Christ. Below are the soldiers ; they are different from the watchers in “ The Ascension ” and nearer the persons in the other compositions. These figures, in violent attitudes, are full of life ; and we notice the muscular exaggerations that belong so often to Greco. The half-length figure of the donor of the picture, Don Diego de Castilla, placed in the left-hand corner of the canvas, is the earliest 92 EL GRECO of the penetrating, incomparable portraits which Greco executed in Spain. The last of the works carried out for Santo Domingo are the “ St. Veronica with theSudarium ” (Plate 84) and the “Santa Faz,” placed as a kindof shield in the centre of the great altar between the upper and the lower pictures, and supported by two child angels, which probably we owe to the hand of Greco. Again we have to comment upon the personality of our painter. Greco has seldom been happier than in the head of this St. Veronica ; her hands too are beautiful. We recognise in this model one of the Marys in “ The Expolio.” The head of the Christ upon the white napkin, relieved with its black edge, gives an effect of great delicacy. Our painter has attained dignity in a theme of almost impossible difficulty. There are several pictures, which by their conception, spirit, and manner of painting belong to these first years in Madrid, and which were executed probably by Greco in the intervals of working at “ The Expolio ” and the altar canvases of Santo Domingo. The most important is “ The Annunciation ” of the Prado (Plate 1). This beautiful small panel on wood is an example of the manner in which Greco applied his style to miniature. We notice unusual care in the com- FIRST PERIOD IN TOLEDO 93 position and in the painting itself. In this 4 4 An- nunciation/’ which should be compared with the late pictures on the same subject, one in Toledo, the other in Paris, belonging to Senor Zuloaga, the great modem painter (Plates 81,85), we are less conscious of the passionate religious significance which the Greco strives to give to his work. Perhaps this is the one Spanish picture that might have been painted by someone else ; yet the beautiful cold tones mark it 44 a Greco.” This disturbing religious sense, bom of the new religious revival which lashed the Greco’s spirit, is more manifest in two pictures, unfortunately little known, 44 The Deposition from the Cross,” (Plate 51), which was recently taken from Madrid to Paris and at present is in the possession of Messrs Trotty & Co., and the fine 44 San Sebastian,” in the cathedral of Palencia. Both these pictures must be remembered by the student of Greco ; they are excellent examples of his work in this first period. It is also to this period that “ Christ with the Cross ” (Plate 22) and the two portrait pictures of St. Francis belong (Plates 63 and 61). Al- though authentic, two of these canvases are less interesting ; it is to be presumed that they were painted earlier, certainly before 44 The Expolio ” ; 94 EL GRECO and they may best be placed with the transition Italian-Spanish work. The half-length portrait figure of St. Francis at Madrid, in the private collection of Don R. Garcia, is a careful piece of work ; probably it was executed in preparation for some picture. “ The Christ with the Cross ” of Senor Zuloago is a finer work. The remain- ing picture also belongs to Senor Zuloaga ; it is the one of St. Francis placed in a characteristic and beautifully painted landscape, and is a finely interesting work. But it is not a characteristic Greco. These are the groups of pictures that bring us up to the year 1579. What an advance Greco has made since he painted the Dresden “ Healing of the Blind Man ” ! The warm colour used at first has given way to cold tones ; the Venetian tra- ditions one by one have disappeared ; and the painter more and more sets down his vision in his own way. In this time between his coming to Spain and finishing the commissions for Santo Domingo and for the cathedral, Greco was slowly shaping his genius ; developing his individual qualities. This method of incessant experiment carried him still farther, and enabled him now to paint “ The San Maurice ” of the cathedral and the splendid " Burial of Count Orgaz.” VI MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584. “ THE SAN MAURICE ” AND “ THE BURIAL OF COUNT ORGAZ ” The royal commission to paint “The San Maurice” for the altar of the Saint in the Escorial was given in the spring of 1580. 1 Thus the picture was begun immediately after the completion of “ The Expolio ” and the cycle of Santo Domingo. The next picture painted after it was “ The Burial of Count Orgaz ” ; chronologically, “ The San Maurice ” stands between these works. This is important. It makes absurd at once the opinions of those writers who point to " a sudden change of style ” adopted by Greco in this picture ; Palomino would have us to believe, in a mood of petulance at having his pictures mistaken for those of Titian. It also gives the lie to that statement, still more absurd, of the madness supposed to have come to Greco. The truth is, all the qualities which are seen in embryo in the earlier pictures attain their full development in the surprising and wonderful 1 See pp. 62-64.. 95 96 EL GRECO “ San Maurice.” What startles us is that all the experiments, scattered in the other pictures, are here gathered into one canvas. The “ San Maurice ” has been called a challenge and an experiment; 1 but rather, it is the perfection of the experiments already made. We recall the new Spanish realism which found its first expres- sion in “ The Ascension ” ; the fantastic height of the figures in “ The Cleansing of the Temple ” ; the bony fleshlessness of the Baptist of Santo Domingo ; the sculptured drawing of the nude Christ in “ The Trinity ” ; the violent attitudes and muscular exaggerations in the soldiers of “ The Resurrection ” ; the characteristic intensity of movement and expression in “ The Adoration of the Shepherds,” and the strong spiritual emotion of the same picture ; we remember the nervous gestures in the figures of many composi- tions ; the increasing use of cold tones ; the strange colours — blues and yellow — seen first in “ The Ascension ” ; the surprising illuminations of light — for instance, that which illuminates the Marys in “The Expolio” — all these exaggerations and others find a united utterance in “ The San Maurice.” Why did Greco paint the King’s picture thus ? 1 Mr Arthur Symons in an excellent article on Greco, “ A Study at Toledo,” Monthly Review, March 1901. 97 MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 The answer is simple : because in these years of solitary work in Spain, withdrawn, as he was, from the example of the great masters, and sur- rounded by inferior artists from whom he could learn nothing at all, he grew strong enough to believe in himself. Having in " The Expolio ” ex- hausted all that he remembered of his training, he threw aside entirely the Italian formulas of com- position, of drawing, and of colour ; and in “ The San Maurice ” we see all that he had assimilated in Spain. The figures are Spanish types, the realism is Spanish realism ; the exaggerations of gesture, the nervous tension of the expressions are the outcome of the Spanish dramatic spirit. The over-intense religious feeling also belongs to Spain. The very painting is Spanish — the drawing of those elongated figures with the twisted limbs, almost with the aspect of a sword, reminds one of Toledo ; while the intense cold illumination and hard colour are the light and colour of that wonderful city. We think, then, that all the strangeness that surprises us in the “ San Maurice ” was done of deliberate intention. El Greco believed this picture, in which he realised the new form of ex- pression for which he had been searching, worthy to offer to his Majesty, Philip II. ; for it is certain that to gain success in this commission, which G 98 EL GRECO opened the door of the Escorial to him, he would use all his genius. But Philip refused “ The San Maurice ” ; a con- servative by temperament he believed only in the Italian tradition; he could not understand this picture’s strange and dangerous novelties. What wonder ! personality has to pay always its price in neglect. We recall the statement of Father Siguenza given upon the picture in 1605 : “it was designed for the proper altar of the saint, but it did not satisfy his Majesty ; it is not much, because it satisfies few ; though they say that it has great art.” No judgment of “ The San Maurice ” could more forcibly convey the truth. Dominico Greco’s art will always arouse discussion. It is interesting and instructive, and in the highest degree fascinating to those to whom it appeals; but these must always, probably, be compara- tively few. For these few, however, the fascina- tion is permanent and irresistible. Who shall decide whether to call “ The San Maurice,” and the other works that must be classed with it, pictures of madness or true ex- pressions of a new, passionate, and dramatic vision ? That is a question hard to answer. Perhaps the truth is that, like Philip II., we dislike what we do not readily understand. El Greco goes back to MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 99 first principles and speaks in symbols with which we are not familiar. Those spectres of human kind, with strange twisted limbs, do not, perhaps, suggest life as we see it ; but they are inspired — they do convey the painter's meaning. Greco’s method is a real enigma ; he essayed surprising effects by separating colour into its original values ; he used light as a means of emotional appeal, giving us sometimes most delicate har- monies, sometimes discordant contrasts. This painter had to teach his world to see what he saw, and in this way he came, it may seem to some, to over-emphasise what to him was truth. “ The San Maurice '' is the typical example of Greco's new form of expression (Plate 65) . The epic subject of the Theban picture gave him inspiration. It is impossible to translate such a picture into words ; it would be absurd to attempt a description. The composition is as original as the treatment ; in- stead of the common depiction of the martyrdom of the saint he shows us the sacrifice of the whole legion. The canvas is divided into two compart- ments ; the meaning is difficult — enigmatical. In the lower part the Christian St. Maurice stands surrounded by his soldiers, whom he would seem to console, extending his hands, perhaps to receive the heads as the executioners cut them off. Above, 100 EL GRECO in the second compartment, are two groups of angels — one, very beautiful, of musicians and singers, the other bearing palms and the crowns of martyrdom. The reality of the first compart- ment, with its sharp crude light and hard colour— the two dominant tones are chrome yellow and ultramarine blue — is in splendid contrast with this heavenly scene, where the light is harmonious, flooding down on the figures beneath, and the colours warmer, as we see them in the crimson standard and in the draperies of the angels. The technical merit of “ The San Maurice ” is great ; in this respect it does not yield to any previous picture of the painter. Yes ; “it has great art.” What a contrast it must have offered in the formal Escorial of Philip II. with the traditional com- positions of the lesser Italian painters ! We know that " The San Maurice ” was judged unworthy of being received. We are the gainers. In the sala capitulares, where the picture was stored, the canvas can be seen in a favourable light ; while the commonplace and inferior picture of Romulo Cincinnati, ordered by Philip II. to replace that of the Greco, is fortunately hidden in its dark position over the altar of " San Maurice.” Cean Bermudez and Ponz cite as the original study for “ The San Maurice ” a canvas in the MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 101 church of San Torcato at Toledo ; but as early as 1837 ^is picture had disappeared, if, indeed, we can accept its problematical existence. Senor Cossio mentions two repetitions of the picture ; one that came from Toledo is in the private collec- tion of Don Fernando Brieva, Madrid — it is so poor in workmanship that Senor Cossio does not accept it as the work of Greco ; he believes it to be a copy made by his son George Manuel, like the signed “ Expolio” of the Prado. The other canvas is in Bucharest Royal Gallery : it belongs to a much later date, and is inferior in every way to the original. The only interest in the picture is that the bearded man, thought to be the portrait of Greco, is shown older ; a change which is ex- plained if we accept it as the portrait of the painter. We have come to the great composition picture, “ The Burial of Gonzalo Ruiz, Count of Orgaz, (Plates 69 to 77), which belongs to the same period as “ The San Maurice,” and is rightly accounted the masterpiece of Greco. 1 These two pictures, the rejected Escorial canvas and “ The El Enterrio ” — as the great burial composition is familiarly called in Spain — sum up the gathered knowledge of Greco's years of residence in Toledo. For it is a mistake to separate these two pictures, 1 See pi. 65. 102 EL GRECO as so many have done, according blame, even de- rision, to the one, and to the other praise. The truth is they stand together as the most character- istic and individual works of the Greco. Both are representations of Spanish life interpreted in the most truthful and intimate manner ; both show the strange conjunction of idealism with realism — the spiritual note that, from now, lives in Greco’s art. In addition to this there is the same division of the picture into two compartments, the one on the earth, the other in the heavens ; the same cold colour is used ; the same lighting ; the same splendid con- trasts ; the same peculiarities of style are really manifest in both canvases. Alike they are born from the union of the mysticism of the Greco with the realism of Spain. The difference in the pictures then arises out of the subjects ; the Theban legion was more complicated — less easily understood ; while that of “El Enterrio ” is so simple, and at the same time so genuinely Spanish, and more, it is local, belonging to Toledo. Greco could not have found a subject more suitable to his art than this burial that treats of a solitary miracle. The great picture hangs alone in the small, white, mosque-like church of Santo Tome ; the spectator looks at the scene as if it passed in the MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 103 church, at that same moment. No one can forget this picture, which haunts one as few other pictures have the power to do. It is all so personal ; so new. The spectator does not remember having seen anything that resembles it ; different as the picture is, it is as intimate and as true as that court scene which Velazquez gave us later in the incomparable “ Las Menifias.” Alike these com- positions, which are not so much pictures as scenes of intimate life, are truthful pages of the history of Spain. Don Gonzalo Ruiz, a native of Toledo, was governor of Orgaz ; a man of great piety, he re- built, about 1300, the church of Santo Tome, giving many presents of gold and silver. He also aided in the foundation of a monastery for the religious order of San Esteban. For these good deeds in the service of God and other saintly works, he came to die in a holy manner. In 1323, when he was taken to be buried in the church that he had built, the glorious saints, San Esteban and San Augustine descended from heaven and carried his body to the sepulchre, “ where they placed it in the presence of all, saying : * Such reward receive those who serve God and his saints.’ ” 1 This was the poetic legend that Greco had to 1 Quoted from Senor Cossio’s book, “ El Greco,” p. 232. 104 EL GRECO illustrate. It had not been painted before, and, as we have said, the theme — very intimate, very Spanish — was suited perfectly to his special style of expression. It is so simple : the scene realised and set down upon the canvas, all the figures in the natural attitudes of the moment ; the legend told with perfect belief in its reality. No description can convey its impression ; but the illustrations can do something. What force is here in restraint : what a profound gift of characterisation ! There are thirty figures in this composition of living portraits : each figure is distinct, yet each gains increased power from the contrasted presence of the others. Types so Spanish, we find every shade of the natural character expressed in their magnificent life. Seven figures comprise the central group, which is admirably composed of bending forms around the supine saint ; they emerge from the gloom in flashes of splendid colour — gold, white and steel-blue. Note the death- sheet of grey-white against the black armour and white mitre of St. Augustine ; these are admirable “ painter’s inventions.” And how Spanish these figures are ! This inward interpretation of life — Spanish life — seems to summarise the entire im- pression of that passionate, conscious individual- ism, characteristic of our Greco and of Spain. MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 105 In the Count in armour, with the livid face of death, in the cowled monk and the two robed priests, we see expressed the fervid piety of a people who have felt themselves in mystical com- munion with God (Plates 71, 72, 76 and 77). In St. Augustine, splendid in ecclesiastical robes, is the magnificent opulence of the Catholic Church (Plates 7 1, 74 and 75) ; in the young warm beauty of St. Stephen and the lovely acolyte are the full joy and rich colour which the East has left in Spain (Plates 71 and 73). Then behind are the mourners — a long row of vivid portrait heads seen against a dark background, and illuminated by the light which flickers from a few torches (Plate 70) . These heads dominate the picture ; they are the types unchanged in Castile to-day. Such lean, sharp faces, with sad, restless eyes, each cut off and isolated in space by the white ruff ! such over-delicate, nervous hands, that glimmer with exaggerated whiteness ! men of a dignity almost defiant in its self- absorb tion, all having that cold ardour which is the refinement of passion. Some are ecstatic, others are self-absorbed ; in these strange, cold fervent faces the spirit of Spain finds reincarnation. These heads are portraits of the notable towns- men of Toledo. The nervous face that is the io6 EL GRECO sixth, 1 counting from the extreme left of the canvas, that faces front towards the spectator, is the supposed portrait of Greco. It is the same portrait as the standing figure in “ The San Maurice ” ; but it seems a little older. 2 Un- fortunately, we are certain of only two of the other portraits. The magnificent white-bearded head, seen in profile, which is placed next but one to that of the painter, is Antonio Corrubias (Plate 76) ; it is the most living in the long row. Corrubias was the patron, and perhaps the friend, of Greco; we find him figuring in many pictures, while his splendid portrait, belonging to a later date, is one of the finest works of Greco. 8 We recognise his brother, Diego Corrubias, in the head, also with a white beard, opposite upon the right, that rises almost directly above the bending St. Stephen (Plate 73). Don Diego died in 1577, thus the head must have been executed from a lost portrait made by Greco previously to the painting of the picture. The identity of all the other persons has been lost. But it is a tradition in Toledo that the standing ecclesiastic in the white surplice (Plate 76) represents Don Andres Nufiez, 1 Senor Cossio counts the two priests of the principal group and makes Greco’s portrait the eighth head. 2 See p. 70. 3 See pp. 145 -147. MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 107 the parson of Santo Tome, to whose initiative we owe the great picture. Now look at the Gloria that fills the upper por- tion of the canvas (Plate 69) ; it is the customary mediaeval representation familiar to the Byzantine artists of the Virgin and Christ awaiting in the heavens the body of the dead saint. But how individual is the rendering ; with what concentra- tion and sobriety the figures are disposed ! The Virgin, Christ and the naked Count, placed to form a triangle, are supported by a single angel, full of vigour ; around them are a swaying mass of holy persons, prophets, and angels ; they drift on a great strata of strange clouds, among which are cherubim, and one nude child-angel strangely placed upon the right. The scene is illuminated with cold fight that comes from within. El Greco seems to revel in the absoluteness of his freedom. Much criticism has been given to this second compartment of “ The Enterrio,” which from the time of Cean Bermudez onwards has been con- demned. Quite recently, so understanding a critic of Spanish painting as Mr Havelock-Ellis writes : 1 “ Powerful and impressive as the work undoubtedly is, the individual portraiture of the bystanders, and the realistic detail of their 1 “ The Soul of Spain,” pp. 117, 118. io8 EL GRECO costumes, clash with the larger religious signifi- cance which the painter has sought to give to his work ; the religious significance is unachieved, and, on the other hand, the episode depicted and its supernatural accompaniments are not felt to aid the singularly fine row of portrait heads resting on their white ruffs which chiefly draw our atten- tion/ ’ This is, we believe, a misapprehension of the picture ; again we marvel at the want of under- standing that has been given to Greco’s work. The real difficulty is that the extraordinary reality of the burial scene so excites and astonishes the spectator that at first he finds himself unable to accept the scene which takes place in heaven. But look again at the Gloria. There are no mannerisms of the Greco here that do not occur in the first compartment also. The Christ is not taller than the dead Count ; while His elongated figure, that has scandalised so many, is not more remarkable than earlier models of Greco ; the faces of the angels are not sharper and leaner than those of the mourners, their expressions are not more sad ; the gestures are no stranger than the in- sistent hands of the human figures ; we find the same splendid contrasts, the same strange uses of colour, and the same cold illumination ; equal mastery is shown in the technique — to give one MIDDLE PERIOD, 1580-1584 109 instance, the radiant snowy clothing of Christ is as beautifully painted as the white surplice and the grey- white shroud. And further, the Gloria does help the burial ; it expresses the visionary quality that always unites with Greco's realism — the true inspiration of his art. It is impossible to accept the one part of the picture and to reject the other. Senor Cossio is right in the splendid passage in which he rehabilitates the Gloria, when he says, “ both compartments belong to the Greco, and both are good.’' 1 But it is easier to accept exaggerations in human figures we know than in angels whom we do not know. The Gloria will appeal to us more in exact propor- tion as we come to understand Greco’s art. A difficulty arises when we try to fix the date of “ The Enterrio." Villegas, the earliest testimony we possess, says the picture was painted after 23rd October 1584, when the Archbishop Gaspar Quigora gave permission for it. But after the signature of Greco, which is placed on the linen handkerchief in the pocket of the attendant acolyte, appears the date 1578. Are we to accept this date ? The testimony of the picture itself 1 See “El Greco,’’ pp. 271-277. Also compare “A Record of Spanish Painting,” p. 112 ; and “ Moorish Cities of Spain,” pp. 43, 44, by C. Gasquoine Hartley. no EL GRECO gives answer ; it seems certain that “ The Enterrio ” was not painted before “ The San Maurice,” and therefore could not be finished as early as 1578. Yet the written date has no appearance of being an addition. We would suggest as a solution of the difficulty that the picture was begun in 1578, but was laid aside when the commission to paint “ The San Maurice ” was received, and afterwards taken up again and finished, with the added knowledge that had been gained both from the painting of the Escorial picture and from its rejection. There is only one replica of “ The Enterrio/ ’ a poor and small picture without the Gloria which is in the Prado. Probably it is a copy, not by Greco, and may be another picture that we owe to George Manuel Theotocopuli. VII MIDDLE PERIOD. OTHER PICTURES THAT BELONG TO THE YEARS 1584-1604 The interval of twenty years which elapsed between the painting of " The Enterrio ” and “ The Baptism of Christ ” in the Hospital of San Juan Bautista at Toledo, the work that opens the final period of Greco's art — that is, from 1584- 1604, is marked by a great fecundity of production. A great number of pictures, religious compositions, allegorical scenes, representations of saints, and portraits belong to these years. Greco had now established his reputation, and the pictures that follow “The Enterrio ” are not so large and not so important as the great works just described. From this time onwards he painted for himself — for his own pleasure and our delight. In these less thought-out, more personal — more experimental, pictures Greco is entirely him- self, wholly occupied by his driving imaginative vision. And it is in these little-known canvases, though certainly they have not the significance in 112 EL GRECO that belongs to the cycle of Santo Domingo, “ The Expolio” “The San Maurice,” and “The “ Enterrio ” — the great works in which his art developed, that the lover of Greco will find his greatest delight. They are the truest expressions of his genius. Unfortunately, great confusion and uncertainty surrounds these later pictures. Canvases have disappeared, others are in private collections and hidden in unknown churches, some are in a deplorable condition, even worse are the probable copies that pass as originals. Senor Cossio has just recently cleared up many difficulties. But a certain classification is still impossible. We have a few dates to guide us ; records of payments and the dates which sometimes Greco fortunately added after his signature, but in many instances, in the entire absence of documentary evidence, the exact period to which a given picture belongs cannot be decided. And the difficulty is increased in the case of a painter who delighted in experi- ments, and continually surprises by apparently sudden changes of technique and especially of colouring, as a classification based on the pictures themselves too often leads into error. It is to the years immediately following the completion of “ The Enterrio ” that several MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 113 religious pictures of El Greco belong ; notably those which are now in the Prado — “ The Baptism of Christ/’ “ The Resurrection,” and “ The Cruci- fixion ” (Plates 4, 5, 7), and also the enchant- ing “Annunciation” of the Biblioteca Museo of Villanueva y Geltru (Plate 127), which came from the Prado, in whose inventory it was in 1883. Although the subjects are different there are several points of resemblance, both in the con- ception and in the technique, between these pictures and the Gloria of “The Enterrio ” ; the work with which they must be classed. There are the same exaggerations of drawing, the same strong use of colour. But the resemblance is most evident in the conception of the scenes. The unchecked individualism of the former composition is more responsibly carried out, but still restless, still insistent. There is one point of union in all these pictures — the intensity of the expression. Greco found a new point of accentuation for religious subjects by telling the old stories from the mental standpoint of his own imagination ; and the accent falls on the rhetoric of movement. The special qualities of these animated religious visions are swift life and vivid action. Pass in review the pictures (Plates 4, 5, 7, 127) ; note the concentration with which this central impres- H EL GRECO 1 14 sion is conveyed, the supreme value given to movement. In “ The Baptism of Christ ” (Plate 4), we see this movement at its highest point of restlessness — we are drawn into Greco's secret in this passionate inward interpretation of the scene — and how fine is the treatment of the heavens, where groups of angels, half lost in a flood of vehement clouds, swirl like waves around the fine figure of God. Again, what delight in movement is expressed in “ The Annunciation ” (Plate 127), probably the companion picture to “ The Baptism"; 1 the composition claims our admira- tion by its complete forgetfulness of all other presentments of the same scene. But in each picture we find this search after what is new and finely expressive, colour as well as form being used as a means of dramatic statement, with a result that to many is exaggeration. In “ The Resurrection ” and “ The Crucifixion ” (Plates 5 and 7) all the extravagances of the painter are outdone. Light is expressed by strange thin streaks ; angels rest on clouds of cold blue-green ; the bony figures seem taller, their limbs more 1 The two canvases, Senor Cossio points out, are exactly the same in dimension, probably they were painted for the Dona Marfa de Aragon, Madrid, where they may well have occupied the side altars. MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 115 twisted ; the flesh is livid, painted with strange lilacs. But what beauty of imagination in places ! — in the figures, for instance, of the women in the second picture, who catch with white cloths the drops of blood as they fall from the body of the great tall Christ. The figures in all these pictures are passionately concerned with themselves ; all have imperishable individuality and life. In these pictures we have the whole of Greco. And what a singular beauty we find in their tempestuous life. They hold and silence us, and the longer we gaze the more our admiration is compelled. With what an inevitable leap of joy the dominant imagination seizes us ! Here is agony and tumult of desire — the restless religious strife of soul. For these pictures are Spanish ; they could hardly have been painted outside of Spain. We are fortunate in possessing documentary evidence as to the date at which these pictures were painted. From Cean Bermudez 1 “ Diccion- ario,” we learn that Greco executed the retablo with its pictures for the church of Dona Maria de Aragon at Madrid, completing the work in 1590. He was not paid for the commission until 1600, 1 but, as the church was consecrated in 1 The sum received by Greco for the whole work was 65,300 reals. n6 EL GRECO the April of 1590, it is reasonable to suppose that the retablo was then finished, while the delay in the payment is explained by the circumstance, discovered by Senor Cossio, 1 that a lawsuit was undertaken before the payment was settled. We possess no description of these pictures beyond the significant statement of Palomino, who speaks of them as “ ridiculous examples, as much for the heresies of the designs as for the harshness of the colouring. * ’ Cean Bermudez adds that the subj ects “ belong to the life of Christ.” It is to be presumed that these are the pictures of the Prado. In the case of “ The Baptism of Christ ” this is certain, as the picture is described as coming from the church of Dona Marfa of Aragdn. That “ The Annuncia- tion ” is the companion picture to “ The Baptism,” which it resembles in every particular, even in the dimensions, is the opinion of Senor Cossio. The place of origin of “ The Resurrection ” and “ The Crucifixion ” is less certain. They too may have come from Dona Marfa de Aragdn's church, if not, they probably passed to the Prado from one of the other Madrid churches for which Greco was working at the same time. It is impossible to separate the four pictures ; they must have been painted in the same period. 1 “ El Greco,” p. 292. MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 11 7 We know of no important replicas of these pictures. The famous “ Baptism ” in Toledo is entirely different from the composition of the Prado, and belongs to a separate and later period of Greco’s art. There is a small replica of “ The Resurrection,” badly restored, in the possession of the Conde de Santius, Madrid. “ Crucifixions ” attributed to Greco are scattered over Spain ; gener- ally they have little interest. They, too, belong to a late period, many are certainly copies of lost pictures. There is, however, one exception, a really fine and interesting “ Crucifixion,” in the Palace of Justice, at Prades, in the Eastern Pyrenees. The picture is praised by Senor Cossio, who thinks that this may be “ The Crucifixion ” seen by Ponz at Toledo, in the church of the “ Nuns of the St Jerome of the Queen,” of which he writes: “it was in El Greco’s good manner.” It is not a repetition of the Prado picture ; the subject is treated differently, with less imagination and more sobriety. The figure of the crucified Christ stands out against a dark background simply treated. The women are not present ; but below are two portraits of the donors of the picture. This Crucifixion belongs to the years immediately follow- ing the cycle of works inspired by “ The Gloria of the Enterrio ” ; and is an example of a new n 8 EL GRECO manner of Greco begun in the pictures of San Jose and Illescas. We must here mention an important work, “ The Dream of Philip II./ * usually called in Spain “ The Gloria of Greco,” which is in the chapter hall of the Escorial (Plate 64). No posi- tive assertion can be made as to the date of the picture, nor have we any information as to the cir- cumstances which led to this second royal commis- sion. The first mention of the picture is found in the “ Descripcion del Escorial,” by Padre Santos : he notes “ A Gloria by Domineko Greco, among the best which he painted, although still with great want of harmony in the colours, though here there is some excuse, for to paint the Glory of God it is not easy to find suitable colours, for the most vivid cannot attain to the signification of the strength of that supreme Majesty, neither seen nor heard of men.” 1 It can be suggested that Greco during the period of working for the church of Doha Maria de Aragon in Madrid, again came into contact with Philip II., who, inspired to the idea perhaps, by “ The Gloria ” that Titian had painted for his father, the Emperor; desired a picture to commemorate his own death for his beloved Escorial ; and, realising that the Greco 1 “ Descripcion del Escorial.” MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 119 was the one artist in Spain with ability to execute such a work, commissioned the picture at this time — that is, in the years immediately after 1590. It must be stated that Senor Cossio places the Escorial picture later, in 1600, and after the pictures of San Jose and Illescas ; forming his judgment on “ the beauty and moderation of the angels,” and on other points of contact which he sees with the compositions of Toledo. 1 But giving due weight to the importance of this learned opinion, we believe that “ The Gloria of the Escorial ” is related to the earlier “ Burial of Count Orgaz,” to which great work it is much nearer in inspiration in the concentration of the design, as also in the actual execution, than to the later pictures of San Jose and Illescas. Like “ The Enterrio ” the canvas is divided into two compartments : above, the Gloria, and beneath, the dream upon the earth. The subject was one fitted to inspire Greco’s imagination — the death-dream of the recluse of the Escorial. We are first overcome by its truth ; the vision is exactly fitted to Philip and to Spain. On one side are placed Hell and Purgatory — the terror that haunted Spain ; and on the other the Church militant ; a host of the Faithful kneeling in the 1 “ El Greco,” p. 321. 120 EL GRECO attitude of prayer and raising hands of supplica- tion to heaven. With them, placed a little apart on the right, we see his Majesty, in the same humility of prayer — a daring figure of black placed in the midst of rich colours ; he kneels on an embroidered cushion placed upon a carpet of Oriental brightness. It is in these crowded figures, without the least confusion, that the interest of the picture centres. Greco’s un- questioned skill in drawing is well displayed in these small figures, strong in movement and exe- cuted with great vigour ; the work is no less vigorous, or less noble in its truth, than the life-size figures in “ The Enterrio.” It is this scene on earth that, in this picture too, so astonishes the spectator that he forgets the beautiful Gloria of the second compartment. A small replica, longer and narrower than the original canvas, is in Scotland, in the possession of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell. It is a panel of great interest that has the appearance of being a sketch. Besides “ The Dream of Philip II.” and “ The San Maurice ” there are at the Escorial two fine portraits of San Eugenio (Plate 67) and St. Peter (Plate 66). Greco has painted nothing finer than this St. Peter ; it is a work of splendid sincerity and moderation. 121 MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 Of the same class, though vastly inferior, and belonging to a period a few years earlier, is the St. Basil of the Prado (Plate 10), which Senor Cossio considers “ a work of the second rank.” The canvas has been badly restored. The beautiful “ Santiago ” (Plate 44), belonging to Doha Maria del Carmen Mindieta, and also “ The Head of a Saint,” in Montreal, Canada, (Plate 62), perhaps “Santiago,” which has the appearance of being a fragment of a larger picture, may also be placed here. Greco executed a great number of these portraits of the saints, the majority belong to the last years of his life. In 1597 we find Greco at work in Toledo painting four pictures for the newly-built chapel of San J ose. Again we have the record of a lawsuit, brought by the donors of the church, who considered the painter’s demands exorbitant. From this docu- ment, which is dated December 3rd, 1599, we learn that the commission was given December 21st, 1597, thus the work occupied two years. These pictures of San Jose mark a change in the manner of Greco. It seems, as Senor Cossio aptly says, “ as if he had freed himself from the kind of lugubrious crisis which distinguishes the pictures immediately following ‘The Enterrio.’” Strengthened by what he had achieved, he now 122 EL GRECO composes with more balance — more repose , for a time he renounces experiments. The most important canvases of the group are the “Virgin with Santa lines and Santa Tecla of San Jose” (Plate 95), and the beautiful and famed “ San Martin ” (Plate 94). The great picture of “ St. Joseph ” and a “ Coronation of the Virgin ” are placed in the high altar. In “ The Virgin with the Saints ” (Plate 95) we see greater decision, with a more tempered imagination. Mary, a figure of great beauty and perfect dignity, is seated on clouds, the naked child upon her lap. The fingers of her charming right hand caress his left. Two angels are on either side ; her head is surrounded with a number of cherubim; Santa Ines and Santa Tecla stand below. Greco has seldom been more inspired than in these two lovely women. The same sobriety distinguishes “ The Coronation of the Virgin ” ; 1 and there is dignity * and great quietness in the tall figure of St. Joseph as he leads the boy Christ. We are conscious that Greco in these pictures has had a quite unusual wish to avoid exaggerations. It is only in the angels of “ The St. Joseph,” placed in the clouds 1 There are no illustrations of these two canvases in San Jose; plates 28 and 96 are replicas of these pictures. See page 124. 123 MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 in strange attitudes, as they throw roses down upon the saint, that we note the customary strangeness. The “ San Martin ” (Plate 94) is one of the most beautiful of Greco’s pictures. Again we have a Spanish legend interpreted with splendid realism, joined with a poetical and spiritual expression. The beautiful delicate youth, supposed to be the portrait of George Manuel Theotocopuli, is mounted on a white horse with black ornaments. He is in the act of dividing his green cloak with his sword to share it with the beggar who stands naked upon his right, a strange, shadowy figure, very tall. The background is the sky and the beautiful silhouette of Toledo seen in so many compositions. In this canvas we find the high-water mark of Greco’s practice in the direct use of his pigments ; we admire the utmost effect produced with the most rapid and light handling. The brushwork is broad and rapid, and in some places so thin that the canvas can be seen. The opaque and earthy tones, the harsh colours, give place to pale greens, carmines, yellow, and silvery whites, and beautiful greys that envelop all. Here Greco ex- periments less with the beauties of his medium in a greater effort at unity than up till now he seems to have cared to attain. 124 EL GRECO We learn from Senor Cossio that “ The San Martin " and “ The Virgin with Saints/' the two pictures of the side altar of San Jose, have just recently been sold out of Spain by the patron of the church. This spoliation of the shrine of Greco is deplorable ; such tampering with great works should not be tolerated. There are several important replicas of the pictures of San Jose. In the church of the Magdalene, Toledo, is a beautiful replica in minia- ture, of “The St. Joseph of the Retablo” (Plate 96) ; unfortunately the canvas is in a state of great neglect. A better treated and also beautiful replica of “ The Coronation of the Virgin " with variations belongs to Don Pablo Bosch, Madrid (Plate 28). It is difficult to believe that Velazquez had not seen this picture when he painted his “ Coronation of the Virgin." There are several accepted replicas of “The San Martin " — that of the King of Roumania at Bucharest, of Madame Syngros in Athens, of Mr John Sargent, of London, and of Monsieur Louis Manzi, in Paris ; this last, in the opinion of Senor Cossio, being the best of all, admirably painted, though of Greco's last period. A few years later Greco was working for the Hospital de la Caridad at Illescas, a small town 1 “ El Greco,” p. 306. MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 125 near Madrid. The lawsuit between the tax- gatherer of Illescas and Greco 1 — undertaken, tradi- tion says, to vindicate the painter’s right to sell his pictures without paying the tax levied on merchandise— was decided in 1600 ; before which time the pictures must have been completed. Palomino, Ponz, and Cean Bermudez say that we owe to Greco the design, the statues, and the pictures of the retablo of the Caridad ; they men- tion as w r ell a second retablo in the Church of the Barefooted Discalced Franciscans, at Illescas ; however, of this work we have no trace. Five pictures remain in the Hospital de la Caridad, of these, four belong to the High Altar (Plate 129). A “Charity” placed in the upper section between two statues of wood, also Greco's work, 3 a “ Coronation of the Virgin,” a replica of the Toledo picture without the portraits of the donors, in the centre of the vaulted roof, with “ The Birth of Christ ” on the right, and “ The Annunciation ” on the left. The centre of the 1 ‘ El Greco," pp. 307-309. 2 See p. 174. 3 The statues have been daubed and gilded. “ The Birth of Christ ” and “ The Annunciation ” have been torn from their positions and hung on the walls, while “ The Charity " has been moved to the side altar on the right. Pieces have been added to the canvas, which has been revarnished without being cleaned or stretched. See Senor Cossio’s “El Greco," pp.no, hi. 126 EL GRECO altar is occupied by an immense statue of the Virgin. None of these pictures are important ; moreover, the merit they may have had has been disfigured by the recent barbarous restorations of the retablo. The fifth picture, “ The San Ildefonso” (Plate 128), which is placed over the left side altar of the transept is one of Greco’s finest achievements. Even if we did not know the date of this work, the way in which it is conceived would lead us to place it with the compositions of San Jose. There is the same unusual sobriety, the same absence of exag- geration. For the third time we have a poetical realisation of great strength of a Spanish legend. " The Burial of Count Orgaz,” “ The San Martin,” and “ The San Ildefonso ” are perhaps the most truly Toledan of all Greco’s pictures. The com- position is severe and Spanish ; and the scheme of colouring, darker and more sober than the pictures of San Jose, corresponds. The student of Greco’s art must not neglect this significant picture. A picture, believed by Senor Cossio to have come from Illescas, is “The Marriage of the Virgin,” in the Bucharest Royal Gallery. This picture corre- sponds exactly with the recess of the side altar on 1 Mons. Degas of Paris possesses a small and unimportant replica of “The San Ildefonso.” 127 MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 the right, opposite to “ The San Ildefonso,” and further this position was occupied up to the recent alterations by an inferior seventeenth century pic- ture of the same subject. Taking these facts into consideration, Senor Cossio says : “I suspect that the picture at Bucharest came from Illescas or is at any rate a replica of an original picture that was there.” 1 We have no further documents or lawsuits to guide us as to the date of the remaining pictures that belong to this middle period. It is to be presumed, however, that it was in the years that immediately followed that Greco painted a group of pictures that are related by their style to the cycle of San Jose and “ The San Ildefonso ” of Illescas. Two pictures of the Virgin ; one in the Prado (Plate 12) ; the other, a much more beautiful work, in the Museum of Strasburg, may first be mentioned. Like all the pictures of this period, they are quiet in expression, without any hint of mannerism. Much more important is the picture acquired, two years since, for the Louvre, a fine example, really a portrait, which is entitled “Don Fernando el Catolico, Rey de Castila y de Aragon ” ; Senor Cossio believes this to be an error ; he suggests that 1 “ El Greco," p. 334. 128 EL GRECO the picture represents St. Louis, King of France, and was inspired partly by some old print. 1 The style of this work is full of dignity, and it is very nearly re- lated to the " San Martin/' both in the emotional expression of the figures, impregnated with a deep poetical melancholy, and in the colouring, which shows the silver-grey tones of that picture. The excellence of the painting makes it the more to be regretted that the canvas has suffered much from the experiments of the restorer. The restoration is especially visible in the principal figure and has spoiled the face and naked right arm. The charm- ing figure of the page has suffered least. If it were not for this spoliation the picture could challenge comparison with the painter’s finest works. Among the “ Holy Families/' which Greco painted, several must be placed in this late second period. The one best known is the “ Holy Family " of the Prado (Plate 3), but an almost identical repetition in the church of Santa Ana at Toledo (Plate 97) is a finer work. We may place these canvases with the beautiful “ Virgin and Saints " of San Jose, though probably they were painted a few years later. We recognise the two women, the Virgin and Santa Ana, who figure in the por- trait group which may be the family of Greco. 2 1 "El Greco,” pp. 328, 329. 2 See pp. 66, 67. MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 129 A “ Holy Family ” is mentioned in the catalogue of the Bucharest Gallery, which from the descrip- tion seems identical with the Toledo and the Prado pictures. It belongs, however, to Greco’s late period. Yet another “ Holy Family ” comes from Torr6jon de Velascois and is now the pro- perty of Don O’Rossen of Paris (Plate 53). The composition is different ; though a slighter work, and almost ruined by bad restoration, it is a characteristic example. The Christ is the most joyous of Greco’s infants. But the most beautiful of all the Holy Families is that in the possession of Don Raimondo de Madrazo, in Paris. The group — Joseph, Mary and the Child — is admirably designed, full of intimate realism and tenderness, and carefully painted in a very beautiful scheme of colouring, colder and more delicate than the San Jose “ Virgin ” ; the use of the white mantilla against the luminous background is a beautiful “ painter’s invention.” Greco has used his favourite model, the Virgin who figures in all these pictures ; but here he touches a point above his usual reach. He has attained the spiritual with no sacrifice of the real. The Mother of God suckles her babe with perfect simplicity and great tenderness. With this “ Holy Family ” we close Greco’s 1 130 EL GRECO second period, which, as we have seen, was sub- divided into two ; the passionate imaginative manner of “ The Gloria of the Enterrio ” cul- minating in the cycle of the Prado, and the more tranquil manner that commenced with the pictures of San Jose and end with this picture. Among the pictures preserved in the Provincial Museum of Toledo there are a group of saints and apostles (Plates 106 to 117), and one of the Christ (Plate 105) that it is convenient to notice here, although they must have been painted in the last period — that is, 1600-1614 ; and belong to the passionate final phase of Greco’s art. These pictures are ill-lighted and badly hung, many of the canvases are damaged. But these saints and apostles are depicted in a manner so original and so fantastic that they take an important place in Greco’s work. One characteristic marks them all — the intensity of the expression. Each figure is absorbed in himself, remote, indeed, from the earth, as are all Greco’s creations. The attitudes, too, are characteristic ; the favourite pose — the hands in strange postures, which show weakness in the very fact of the overstrain. Notice especi- ally St. Paul (Plate 106) and St. Bartholomew MIDDLE PERIOD, 1584-1604 131 (Plate 1 14). How splendid is the type ! In these pictures Greco embodies again that spirit of the counter-Reformation, with its uneasy conscious- ness of decay— of sure, and incurable pain. VIII EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER El Greco was an incomparable painter of portraits. The qualities of his art, its intimate realism joined with a passionate and poetical idealism, enabled him to reach the truest point of psychological expression. This was the problem which most interested him in the many portraits which he painted from the days of his apprenticeship in Venice to the last years of his life. There is a secret bond between all his sitters — the same accentuated air of reserve, the same pitiless coldness. To this spiritual interpretation of his model Greco subordi- nates everything. The backgrounds are sombre, the costumes and accessories of austere simplicity ; only in the Italian portraits of his youth does Greco use any of the common arts of the portraitist. He is unable to render a beautiful pose because very rarely does he paint the entire figure ; he used three-quarter lengths, trusting alone to the heads and also to the expressive hands to mark person- ality. This is one reason why his portraits appear 182 EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 133 so modern. Even the colour seems to supple- ment this cold spiritual sensibility, for although occasionally we find touches of warm colour, cold harmonies are always characteristic of these portraits. Blues and black, green and grey, and strange lilacs especially appear in cold and silvery harmonies as distinguished as they are icy. The flesh is lemon-coloured and sometimes brown ; the carnations are of the palest. By means of this simplification Greco achieves the most powerful life— an intense inward life which almost disconcerts the spectator. And the strangest of all is that this life is the painter’s own life. Greco would seem to have painted only those who were related to him in mind and in spirit— those who offered him an interesting psychological study. We know the personality of some of these portraits ; they are the eminent citizens of Toledo ; and those that we don't know — all have the distinction of race. These portraits have the appearance of being Greco’s friends ; or the explanation is that this man, who was himself a prince among his associates, made intellectuals of all men. Greco was the first portraitist who, in the modern sense, did not execute commis- sions but expressed his own thoughts. The emotions which moved his innermost being 134 EL GRECO were the only things which he set down upon his canvas. We have two known and three lost portraits that belong to Greco’s Venetian- Roman period of youth. The most important is that of his friend, Julio Clovio, in the Naples National Museum, whom we see advanced in years. The forehead, with the signs of age faithfully rendered — the tired eyes and grey wrinkled flesh stand out above the cold white collar that contrasts with the black dress. It is nearer to the portraits of Tintoretto than to any work of Titian. The landscape placed in the right hand corner of the background is of Venetian origin ; we do not meet it again in any portrait. The canvas bears the signature of Greco , it must have been painted before 1570. 1 The second portrait is the unknown young man with a red beard, in the Imperial Gallery, Vienna. It is less certain in its execution, and inferior to the portrait of Clovio. Senor Cossio thinks that it must have been painted earlier — that is, during the years of pupilship in Venice. It is not al- together easy to accept this portrait as the work of Greco ; nor do we believe at all the suggestion that it is a portrait of himself. The three lost portraits are : (1) that interesting auto-portrait mentioned in Clovio’s letter, which the 1 See p. 36. EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 135 young Greco brought to Rome, and which aroused the admiration of the artists ; (2) an important full- length of Vicentio Anastagi, of which Stirling and Sir Edmund Head both speak, 1 the latter saying that the canvas bore the signature of Greco. Senor Cossio has traced this picture up to 1849, when it seems to have been sold at Christie’s to a Mr Farrer. 2 The third portrait is that of which Justi 3 was told by the Greek painter, Giorgio Miganti. It had passed for a Titian, but after cleaning the canvas the signature Theotocopuli was found upon it. Nothing further is known of the picture. It was in Spain that Greco developed his gift of portraiture. This is exactly what we should expect in a country where the special quality of the national art was always the expression of character. Spain has given the world three great portrait painters ; Greco is one, the other two being, of course, Velazquez and Goya ; while among painters of the second rank, Sanchez Coello, del Mazo, Carreno, and many others, take a worthy place. Besides the portraits that we have seen already in Greco’s pictures, the donors placed in many 1 “ Annals of the Artists of Spain,” p. 357; “ A Hand- book of the Spanish and French Schools,” p. 83. 2 “ El Greco,” p. 395. 3 " Zeitschrift fur Bildende Kunst,” p. 179. 136 EL GRECO canvases, and the composition pictures that are really portraits, or a gallery of portraits, like “ The Enterrio," we have an important group of por- traits belonging to each period of his art. There are thirty-seven of these portraits, the greater number known to be genuine, and only four whose attributions are more or less doubtful. Then there are about twelve, mentioned in reliable books and catalogues, that have disappeared. 1 In no place can these portraits be studied better than in the Prado at Madrid. The identity of all the portraits, except one— that of Rodriguez Vasquez (Plate 14) — is unknown. All bear the stamp of intellect and race. Look carefully at the reproductions of these pictures, then compare each with the others (Plates 13 to 20). — A-curious likeness — it seems to be almost a family likeness — reappears in every face, each with the customary pointed beard, each with the strange glance of the eyes, each one cut off with its great white ruff ; and in some of the pictures the likeness shows again in the beautifully painted hands. To those who know Greco it will not seem fanciful to trace this likeness back to the painter him- 1 These numbers are quoted from Senor Cossio’s “ El Greco,” pp. 393-451. We have, in most instances, adopted his classification of the portraits ; a debt which we gratefully acknowledge. EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 137 self. These over-nervous faces are of such a spiritual delicacy that the flesh seems to be absorbed by the refining spirit. In none of his work does Greco speak to us more clearly than in these portraits ; they draw us still deeper into the secrets of his strange temperament. The earliest of these portraits are “ The Gentle- man with his Hand to his Breast ” (Plate 20) and “ The Doctor ” (Plate 14), probably so called from the ring on the thumb of the left hand. Senor Cossio places them in the years 1577- 1584 ; forming this judgment on “ the glazing and the impasto ” of the first canvas, as well as on the fact that Greco has signed his name in the capital letters used only in his early pictures, and, in the case of the second canvas, on its “anemic ashen-grey scheme of colour.” 1 Both portraits are excellent, the first of the virile young man, with his sensitive right hand upon his breast — the attitude Greco uses so often — his left upon a finely painted jewelled sword, is one of the most splendid of all the group. The two Unknown Gentlemen (Plates 16, 17) belong to the second period, 1584- 1594, the time in which “The Enterrio” was painted. The execution of the head in the first of these portraits is as fine as anything that Greco 1 “El Greco," pp. 398-401. 138 EL GRECO has painted. It is perfect ; this canvas is nearer than any other to the great composition picture of Toledo. The other portrait is a work of less merit. The portrait of Rodriguez Vazquez, the famous judge (Plate 13), was painted probably during the period that immediately followed — that is, 1590- 1600, the years that close the second period. This too is rather a mediocre work, with less animation and spontaneity. With it we may place two portraits of much higher merit that belong to the same years ; one in Bayonne, a finely expressive half-length, supposed to be a portrait of the Duke of Benavente ; the other, also a half-length, is in Great Britain, in the possession of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell. A third portrait that Senor Cossio accepts is " The Poet with a laurel Wreath around his Head,” which is in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg. Senor de Beruete does not believe this canvas to be by Greco. Greco’s individuality is so marked that it is difficult to be mistaken in any work of his ; in our judgment this por- trait has not the characteristics that belong to him. 1 1 It is unfortunate that there are no illustrations of these three portraits in the present volume. Two of them can be seen in Senor Cossio’s Work, Plates 112, 115. EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 139 The remaining portraits in the Prado of three Unknown Gentlemen (Plates 15, 18, 19), belong by their manner of painting to Greco’s last years, 1600-1614. The power of these heads is inde- scribable. A comparison of the canvases with the earlier portraits shows him here pre-occupied with fascinating effects of cold colour ; a closer student also of variety in human flesh. The technique is lighter and firmer, and in the case of the last picture the brush strokes are placed upon the canvas with a touch that is all “ touch and go.” This portrait reminds us of Velazquez. The charming portrait of “ A Painter ” in the Museum of Seville (Plate 125), which we give up so reluctantly as the portrait of Greco, 1 belongs to the same late period. 1 It is one of the most modern of our painter’s works. There is more probability in the identity of the portrait belonging to Senor de Beruete, Madrid (Plate 24). We see an old man, prematurely wasted, his head bald, his beard thin and grey. This startling, strong, yet refined face, is what we should expect El Greco to be. Senor Cossio does not feel certain that this portrait can be accepted as that of Greco ; it belongs by its style of painting to the years immediately before the last period of our painter. We are again in 1 See p. 68. 140 EL GRECO uncertainty with " The Family,” the wonderful portrait group which Senor Cossio thinks may be the portrait of Greco’s wife, her mother, and the child George Manuel. 1 The picture belongs to the second period, the years during which “ The Enterrio ” was painted. Can we accept this picture as the painter’s family ? We would like to do so. Its surprising, intimate — yes, and affectionate realism, is difficult to explain on any other supposition. It stands alone among Greco’s portraits, as it does, indeed, among all portraits of his time. It is the first portrait treated in the true genre spirit anticipating the portraits of Velazquez and the Dutch painters, and affording yet another instance in which El Greco was in advance of his age. Besides this picture, Greco, as a painter of women, has produced three masterpieces. The “ Lady with the White Fur,” wrongly entitled the portrait of his daughter, 2 “ The Lady with the Flower,” both in the rich collection of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, Scotland, and “ The Lady with the White Mantilla,” belonging to the Marquis de la Vega Incl&n, Toledo (Plate 134), which was ex- hibited in the Guildhall, London, in 1901, under 1 " El Greco,” pp. 45-49. 2 See pp. 65, 66. EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 141 the fictitious title, “ The Princess of Ebolo.” 1 These are portraits that no painter of women, except Velazquez, has been able to approach. The first in time of the three portraits is “ The Lady with the White Fur ” ; Senor Cossio counts it a transition picture uniting Greco’s Roman and Spanish manner; we would place it later in the first period at Toledo. It is a wonder- fully harmonious work. The pale face, the dark hair and eyes that have the expression we find in so many portraits, the delicate ringed hands, the draped head, indicate the Spanish woman. The white ermine stole that covers the neck and bust is a wonderful piece of painting. Senor de Beruete does not accept this picture, which he attributes confidently to Tintoretto. But the cold hard scheme of colour belong to Greco and not to the Italian ; and moreover, this delicate lady has that withdrawn air of reserve which is the special quality of Greco’s portraits. “ The Lady of the Flower ” and the “ Lady with the White Mantilla ” both belong to the second period. Of whom can those pictures be the portraits ? We do not know. Senor Cossio recognises in the beautiful young face with the 1 The portrait was published in “ Hispania ” with the still more arbitrary title, “ The Wife of El Greco." 142 EL GRECO flower placed in the dark hair a likeness to the acolyte in “ The Enterrio.” At least these portraits give us Greco's ideal of women. They are among his finest works. A portrait picture, supposed to represent Julian Romero, the famous knight of Santiago, is an effective work that belongs to Greco’s second period, and may be related to “The Dream of Philip II.,” with which it has several points of contact. The picture, which came from the house of Marques de Lugros in the Alcald el Real, said to be a descendant of Romero, is now in a private collection in Paris. The famous hero of the army is represented as we should expect Greco’s imagination to depict him. In the centre of the canvas he kneels on a green cushion, gold fringed ; his hands are joined in prayer. He wears the white robe of his order, which entirely covers him ; the upper part of the red cross is seen on his breast. Behind him stands a man in armour, wearing a bluish-green cloak embroidered with gold lilies. His right hand is on the shoulder of the knight and with his left he makes a gesture as if presenting him. Senor Cossio believes that this figure is Louis, King of France. An inscription in white letters on the left side of the canvas is probably a later addition. EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 143 It is a strange poetical composition, which derives its interest from the sentiment expressed more than from its technical achievement, which is some- what careless, though this may be explained in part by the restorations the canvas has under- gone. The figures have not the vitality that we expect from Greco. It now remains to examine the portraits where the identity of the sitter has been established. The earliest is Pompey Leoni, the celebrated artist, who may have introduced Greco to Philip II. This is another portrait that belongs to Sir John Stirling-Maxwell. It is an important work of precise and vigorous execution. The artist is shown modelling a bust, almost completed, of Philip II. A second portrait that belongs to the same period — the time of painting of “ The Expolio ” and the “ San Maurice ” — is “ The Master of the House of Leiva,” a picture which has passed from Valladolid to Canada. The canvas has been so destroyed that only traces of the original painting remain. A group of important personages figure in the portraits of the second and final periods. Among the great men of Philip II. 's reign none were more celebrated than Don Gaspar de Quiroga. Greco has given us his portrait (Plate 25) . The fine head, 144 EL GRECO seen in profile— the only pure profile by Greco — is marked by the distinction that characterises all the later portraits, a distinction which remains in spite of the damaged, almost ruined, condition of the canvas. The picture belongs to Senor de Beruete. Another picture, even more important than any previous portrait, is the splendid seated full-length of Don Fernando Neno de Guevara, Inquisitor and Archbishop of Seville, now in a private collec- tion in New York (Plates 54 and 55). Greco never indicated character more vitally and surely. The execution is that of his best period ; that in which, his age and his genius having both come to maturity, he was completely master of his medium. Compare this great, almost unknown, portrait with the famed “ Innocent X.” of Velazquez — the colour is the same — a wonderful combination of reds and whites — the technique is alike, and further, the spirit of the two pictures is the same. No one can remain in doubt of the influence that Greco exercised over his great successor. The question forces itself upon us — Can Velazquez have seen this portrait ? An excellent half-length of the Cardinal Don Fernando of Seville (Plate 135), perhaps a study for the larger portrait, was discovered two years ago in Seville, from where it passed to Paris. EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 145 It was doubtless at this period that Greco exe- cuted the two portraits of Fray Feliz Hortensio de Palavicino, the seated three-quarter length, in the Boston Museum (Plate 46) ; the other, painted earlier, a head and bust, the property of the Marquis de Casa Torres, Madrid (Plate 34), as well as the splendid unknown portrait of a Trinitarian friar in a private collection, Madrid ; and another friar, an excellent head, belonging to Don Pablo Bosch, Madrid (Plate 26), which was exhibited in London in 1901, and at the Prado exhibition of Greco’s works in 1903, where it was wrongly entitled “ Juan Bautista Mayo ” : these four splendid portraits are of the same style as The Cardinal, and the same extraordinary strength. Don Pablo Bosch possessed until quite recently another portrait of considerable historical interest (Plate 27), though it has less artistic merit. It represents a priest, quite young, and Don Pablo Bosch believes, and Senor Cossio thinks that he is correct, that it is a portrait of Ignatius Loyola. It is a work of less vigour than the canvases just noticed, and has all the appearance of having been painted from memory ; moreover, the canvas has been much spoiled by injudicious cleaning. There is hidden in the cathedral of Avila an K 146 EL GRECO almost unknown portrait of a priest which pro- bably represents the ecclesiastic Don Garcia Ibdnez de Mugica Bracamonte, as it is placed above his sepulchral arch. Like the preceding portrait it has less vigour than we expect from Greco. Of vastly greater merit is another portrait of a priest, in the Provincial Museum, Toledo, sup- posed to be J uan de Avila. The execution is very vigorous ; and the colours warmer than in any other portrait. The figure is a three-quarter length showing the hands ; the right hand is in Greco’s favourite position, open upon the breast. The strong head seems as if it must have been painted from the living model ; and as Juan de Avila died in 1569, Senor Cossio suggests that it may possibly represent the J esuit Alfonso de Avila who lived in the Casa de Toledo till 1613. The inscription in red letters on the upper part of the canvas “M. Juan de Avila ” is clearly a late addition. Among the portraits of Greco’s later years we find several of Don Antonio Corrubias and Don Diego, his brother, who, it will be remembered, are the two known portraits among the mourners of “ The Enterrio.’’ The earliest to be painted was the excellent head of Don Antonio, in the Pro- EL GRECO AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 147 vincial Museum of Toledo (Plate 121) ; he is older than in the full length of “ The Enterrio,” probably about seventy. The fine head is painted in bold brush strokes of whites and ashen greys, with touches of carmine ; the background is very dark, the clothes are black, relieved by the white collar. It would be difficult to find a portrait more simply treated. The face is full of character as the energetic glance is fixed upon the spectator. In the same museum is a head of Don Diego ; it has been much damaged. The two portraits of the Biblioteca Provincial present the brothers still older. Don Diego died in 1577, and Don Antonio in 1602 ; these portraits belong to a later date and cannot have been executed from the living models. The head of Don Antonio is exactly similar to the earlier portrait ; the simplification is even more extreme, the paint strokes lighter and more flowing, the tones colder. This portrait has the appearance of being a black and white. In the three-quarter length of Don Diego (Plate 124) the ecclesiastic is seen in surplice and cap, and the bishop’s chain hangs from a white ribbon around his neck. It is in the same style ; again the general tones are white and black. A third portrait, supposed to be Don Diego, is in the Royal Gallery, Bucharest. The likeness is not very 148 EL GRECO evident and one is inclined to think that this is a portrait of a different person . It is a very beautiful work, finer even than the example at Toledo. The tall figure is seen three-quarter length. He is dressed in black, and wears a plain collarette and silk robe ; the beautiful hands are placed open upon a book. The head is executed with great fidelity; its delicate grey, silvery tone is ex- quisite. With this work we may place the better known and splendid portrait of Cardinal Tavera in the Hospital of San J uan Bautista, Toledo, probably the last portrait that Greco executed. It is carried out with the same skill, and in the same style. The vitality of the expression is so great that it is difficult to believe that this portrait too must have been painted without the living model. Yet we know that the Cardinal died in 1545, almost three-quarters of a century before the portrait can have been painted. Senor Cossio believes that the likeness was taken from the small mask of Tavera, still to be seen, though ill-treated, in the steward’s house of the Hospital. Again the figure is shown three-quarter length, standing before a table covered with a green cloth on which rest his biretta and a closed breviary. He wears a red cloak, the sleeve, which shows under SAINTS AND APOSTLES 149 the cloak in the extended left arm, and small plain collar are white. Everything in this por- trait gives proof of the power of Greco ; but what fascinates us most is that surprising spiritual capacity that we find in this portrait, and in so many others of Greco, of delineating the human form to express the human soul. Pictures of the same type as these portraits — an almost countless number of apostles and saints — will be found in every collection of Greco’s works ; doubtless some are copies, many are repetitions. It is not often that Greco changes the type of his figures ; variations are seen only in details. Among the most important are The Christ, and the twelve apostles, in the Sacristy of Toledo Cathedral. They were painted earlier than the saints of the Museum and are quieter in mood. The figure of James the Greater is perhaps the most perfect that Greco created. 1 Other pictures of the apostles 2 worthy of special study are the St. Peter (Plate 35), belonging to 1 It is to be regretted that the only illustrations we have of these pictures, “The Virgin” (Plate 78), is not a genuine work, as can be seen at once even from the reproduction. 2 Among the great number of these pictures of apostles and saints it is impossible to even mention all ; we have therefore taken as being typical examples, the pictures of which we have illustrations. i5° EL GRECO the Marques de la Vega Incldn, at Toledo, a passionate type, and the same model who figures in the Laocoon ; St. Peter and St. Paul together (Plate 57), in the possession of the Marques de Perinat, Madrid; the very beautiful St. John the Evangelist (Plate 36), also in a private collection at Madrid ; the fantastic late picture of the same apostle with St. John the Baptist (Plate 98), in the Church of the Jesuits at Toledo ; and the St. Paul of the Prado (Plate 8.) With these apostles we may place the pictures of “The Magdalene” (Plates 31 and 43); “The Christ with the Cross ” (Plates 22, 48, 49), and the exquisite “ Group of Angels ” (Plate 42), a frag- ment from a larger picture ; among the most beautiful of Greco’s work ; all these pictures show the same striving after the mystical inter- pretation of the character of the model. No saint was depicted oftener, or with greater passion, than St. Francis (Plates 61, 63, 68, 30, 41, 38, 104, 133). Pacheco tells us that Greco was the best painter of St. Francis in his time. The date of these pictures of St. Francis can only be fixed approximately. Plates 61 and 63 may be attributed with confidence to the first years of Greco’s residence in Spain ; the beautiful example at the Escorial (Plate 68), and Plate 30, SAINTS AND APOSTLES 151 which is in a private collection at Madrid, may be placed in the second division of the middle period ; the rest — Plates 41, 38, 104, 133 — belong certainly to the ultimate manner of “The As- sumption ” of San Vicente and the great altars of Titulcia and San Juan Bautista. No pictures reveal more strikingly than these saints the radical change that Greco underwent after he came to Spain — the evolution from realism to mysticism. Compare for a moment the various renderings of the saint. The early St. Francis is more formal and less spontaneous. In the very interesting pictures of Senor Zuloaga, Paris (Plate 61), he is placed in a very beautiful land- scape to which the figure is subordinated. What a change to the St. Francis of the second period (Plates 68 and 30). Greco has made evident progress though only about six years can have elapsed between the execution of the two groups. Now, and especially in the Escorial picture (Plate 68), he realises with stronger intensity — and causes us to feel too — the special character of his model. And this inward interpretation is carried still further in the final group ; attain- ing its climax in the St. Francis, belonging to the Marques de Cerralbo, Madrid, which is, perhaps, the most beautiful of all. The scene is 152 EL GRECO the same as in the early Paris picture ; St. Francis receives the stigmata from heaven; his disciple, Brother Leon, is present in both canvases. Yet the two renderings have no other resemblance. In the late picture the figures have attained character and life. There is no background here to distract the attention of the spectator ; only a great blot of black and white against which the figures stand out. No one except El Greco could have given us this St. Francis. Equal in merit, though the examples are much fewer, are the presentments of the other Franciscan saints. The Prado has two : St. Anthony of Padua with the lily, and reading a book (Plate 9), an early picture, which charms us by its perfect simplicity ; the other “ The San Bernardo” (Plate 23), which belongs to the later period, exquisitely painted, and one of the most beautiful of Greco’s renderings of the saints. The Dominican saints are represented by two fine pictures, that of “ Santo Domingo de Guzman praying before a Crucifix ” (Plate 136) in a private collection at Valencia ; and that of the same saint, in San Nicolas, Toledo (Plate 88), still praying, but in an attitude more strained, the right hand in the customary attitude upon the breast, the left holding the crucifix. In both pictures the saint SAINTS AND APOSTLES 153 is shown kneeling: the background in the latter picture has become stronger — more expressive. Once more we can place side by side works belong- ing to the successive periods of Greco's manner. And the same instructive comparison may be made yet again with the interesting St. Jerome of Dona Maria Montijo at Madrid (Plate 58) and a late St. Jerome now in New York, belonging to Mr. L. R. Erich. 1 The contrast is still more striking between the San Sebastian, 1 the beautiful work of the first epoch of which we spoke in an early chapter, 2 and the late San Sebastian (Plates 32, 40) 3 of the Marques de la Vega Inclan. In the first canvas the saint is a vigorous nude figure placed in an open landscape ; in the second he has changed to an emaciated figure of poetical imagination ; the spirit has triumphed over the flesh. Again the background has become a mere blot of white and black. These portraits of the saints witness that Greco lived in the land of religious struggles. It was in Toledo, the wonderful city, strange 1 Unfortunately we have no illustration of these two pictures. 3 See p. 92. 3 These two plates should not have been separated. The second is, of course, a fragment ; the head of the first enlarged. I 54 EL GRECO and fantastic as the city of a dream that Greco de- veloped this poetical religious spirit and became Spanish; finding himself in this passionate and sensuous atmosphere so suited to his special Cretan temperament. Perhaps no other painter has lived in a city in such strong agreement with his spirit. And this is so true that we know not whether to say that Greco reflects Toledo, or that the city moulded his work. It is therefore not without purpose that we close this chapter with the two landscapes he has left us of Toledo ; though these canvases, like many of his repre- sentations of the saints, belong to the last years of his art. Greco was not a landscape painter ; his concern was with the passion of life — human life in its restless struggle upon earth. These landscapes stand by themselves among all his pictures. The beautiful landscape in the early St. J erome of Senor Zuloaga (Plate 61) , showing Monte Albernia, is proof of the early power that Greco had in landscape. But this picture was painted in memory of what he had seen in Italy ; he never repeated it. We have noticed how more and more he subordinated his backgrounds, using them only to give emphasis to the idea of his picture. It is true that in a great number of his canvases appears a view of Toledo, LANDSCAPES *55 but it is a conventional silhouette, not introduced for its own sake ; it is used for emphasis, and indeed is repeated so often that it almost becomes a symbol. It is this which gives these land- scapes their special character. The first landscape is the well known, and often criticized picture, “View and Plan of Toledo” (Plates 122, 123), in the Provincial Museum of the city. It is an official view, executed probably for the corporation of Toledo, having almost the character of a map, so accurate that it is said any citizen could find his own house in the picture. Yet with what a poetical atmosphere Greco has enveloped his subject. You will never forget this picture ; it is like no other landscape in the world. “The Chasuble ” of San Ildefonso (Plate 119) is placed above the city, the sign of its spiritual life ; its great river is represented by a symbol ; the plan is held by a beautiful boy, probably George Manuel, thus connecting Greco with the city. And the city, as we see it here, is the real Toledo. Go, when night falls upon Toledo, to some such vantage-point as the Puerta del Cambron where beneath the dome of the evening sky you will see the city, roof heaped against roof, tower against tower. It is this effect that Greco has caught. You will recognise the birth of those bluish EL GRECO 156 whites, those strange hues of green ; the beautiful cold colour of the view is the colour of Toledo. Not the least interesting detail of the picture is the inscription written by Greco in his hand upon the plan. Senor Cossio 1 gives it with his own spelling ; this is a literal translation : “ It has been absolutely necessary to put the Hospital of Don Juan Tavera in the form of a model, for it not only covered the Gate of Visagra, but it rose above the cupola or dome in such a way that it over-topped the city, and thus once turned into a model, it seemed to me better to display its front than any other part, and it may be seen in the plan how the rest comes in the city. 35 “ Also in the history of ‘ Our Lady, 3 who is bringing “ The Chasuble to San Ildefonso 33 for his adornment, his making the figures large I was obliged, in a certain way, to make the celestial bodies, such as we see in the lights from afar off, which, small though they be, seem large to us. 33 How characteristic this is of Greco ! In this wonderful landscape- view we have the quality we have noticed in so many pictures — the union of an almost naive realism with an extreme poetical expression. The second picture is a pure landscape, with no figures except a few shadowy forms hardly discernible in the foreground. Look carefully at the reproduction of it in this book (Plate 60). Its recovery is another debt that we owe to Senor 1 “ El Greco,” pp. 455, 456. LANDSCAPES 157 Cossio. He found the canvas fortunately in a perfect state of preservation in the Palacio de Onate, at Madrid, inhabited by the Condesas de Anover de Castaneda, the owners of the picture. The reproduction speaks for the beauty of this landscape. Toledo is shown in its most typical aspect, rising in sharp upward lines ; the buildings clustering around the Alcdzar ; the sky has an indescribable beauty and power. Senor Cossio writes of the picture : “I can recall no other example so devoid of figures, so self-sufficing and independent as it is, with such an air of modem romanticism in the Titianesque painting, which is where it must be placed, having on one side the painting of the North, and executed before 1614, the last date at which it could have been painted. The nearest example that I have been able to discover is a simple drawing of Giorgione in the Ufhzi at Florence." 1 1 “ Ei Greco,” p. 455. IX FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614. THE ASSUMPTION OF SAN VICENTE. THE RETABLO OF TITULCIA. THE HOSPITAL DE SAN JUAN BAUTISTA. OTHER PICTURES " He who does not imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light than his perishing mortal eye can see, does not imagine at all.” This saying of Blake — he too a painter of visions of the mind — seems a fitting statement with which to open this final phase of Greco’s art. He might well have said these words. All nature was to Dominico Greco as a Living Presence. His art, as we have seen it, has been a series of experiments and statements to express this. We have traced the peculiar development of this special personality of his from stage to stage — stages that with sufficient accuracy we have divided into four periods. The first was the pupil’s search for expression. The Roman- Venetian period commencing with the " Blind 153 159 FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 Man " of the Dresden Gallery, and ending with Senor de Beruete’s “ Cleansing of the Temple," the transition picture which unites the Italian and the Spanish manner. The Venetian influence re- mained in the first period at Toledo culminating in “ Christ Despoiled of his Raiment on Calvary." These were the years of experiment and develop- ment that gave us the cycle of Santo Domingo and the “ San Maurice " of the Escorial. In the middle period, after the great achievement of the “ Enterrio," for a time, we found Greco still more vehemently searching for emphasis of expression, making arbitrary experiments in form and colour and in the use of pigment. And we have the wonderful strange visions painted for the Church of Dona Maria de Aragdn, and now in the Prado. Then followed the calmer works of San Jose and Illescas. We have reached the last stage in which the qualities gathered in the years are poured out in a fever of expression. Senor Cossio aptly states the truth, “ the spring had come to the extreme limit of its tension." The change is seen in his technique ; all the qualities we have noticed gain in force, and the intensity of expression rises almost to frenzy. Greco seeks for the idea so that his pictures may live and speak. Sometimes i6o EL GRECO he stumbles in his methods — misses fire ; never in this purpose, which was still, it would seem to us, the significance of movement. Throughout his career changes of process did not modify the aim of the Greco. All his strange skill, the increased power of his imagination, his gathered knowledge of colour and light are used in this service. This quality is present in all these last pictures which he seems to have painted entirely to please him- self — to set down the vision of movement that everywhere he saw. Every picture is built up by its effect, and this effect is movement — life. By concentrating on a particular passage, by a con- tempt for detail and peddling accuracy, he directs our minds to this principal thing. His interest, as it were, compels ours ; he realises his vision and makes us share in his imagination. But it may be said that in many of these pictures the effect is forced ; that impressiveness is lost in an effort of extravagance. Yes, this is true of some of these late pictures — but not of all. Genius does not hesitate ; imagination does not see commonplaces. All this search for expression is done quite consciously ; if strange, exaggerated — ugly, if you like, these pictures are without a trace of affectation. When Greco painted a vision he felt it imperative to symbolise his idea FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 161 in the way that he did. Again we are reminded of that restless power to disturb, which the counter- Reformation brought into art. Greco painted what his imagination saw ; and our imaginations must find his meaning. The glorious ‘'Ascension ” of San Vicente (Plate 89) is the proof of Greco’s triumph. The picture was undertaken in 1600, but it was not completed until 1613, a few months before the painter’s death ; thus it covers the whole of this late period. The achievement here is certain. There is every audacious extravagance, every quality of Greco ; the picture is like no other picture in the world. Greco has caught the very feeling of a figure rising through the air. x\nd the colour ! Here is the synthesis of all that he had learnt in the years of experiment with colour. The most remarkable thing in this remarkable picture is the search for the truth of colour. For the first time in the history of painting an attempt has been made to give the value of colours in relation to one another and to the light. “ A stupendous and un- forget able page in the history of colouring,” Senor Cossio most rightly calls it. No one can forget this picture, who has seen it once in its position at Toledo; it is the answer to those who doubt Greco’s power to embody his own vision. L 162 EL GRECO Toledo has another “ Ascension,” belonging to the Marquis de la Vega Inclan (Plate 33), which Senor Cossio thinks may have been painted in pre- paration for the canvas of San Vicente ; it is a beautiful work, but without the passion and poetry that belongs to the great picture. In the upper part of the altar of San Vicente there is a copy of the lost picture of Greco’s, a “Noli me Tangere ” (Plate 92) ; it is almost identical with the beautiful picture on the same subject, which is in the same style though it belongs to a later period, now in the Convent of San Pablo Ermitano. 1 There are besides two copies of the “ St. Peter ” and the " San Eugenio ” of the Escorial (Plates 66, 67). Senor Cossio thinks that the original pictures were once in San Vicente. Two other important works were carried out by Greco in these last years ; that for the Church of Titulcia or Bayona, and the famous altar of the Hospital of San Juan Bautista. The works for the church of Titulcia were five pictures — scenes from the life of Mary Magdalene. Senor Cossio says : “ I believe this to be the most important work in size and entirety that our artist painted.” 2 The 1 There is a small replica of this picture in the Bucharest Gallery. 2 “ El Greco,” p. 353. FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 163 fact that we cannot agree in this estimate is per- haps explained by the barbarous repainting which these canvases suffered in the eighteenth century ; a horrible besmirching which makes it difficult to appraise their value. Four only of the canvases remain in the church : on the left side “ Christ conversing with Mary Magdalene in her House,” and “ The Angel appearing to Mary Magdalene ” ; and on the right side “The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection.” The fourth picture, which should be “ The Meal in the House of Simon,” where the Magdalene anoints Christ, is missing. A picture on the same subject is now in Paris belonging to M. Ivan Stchoukine. Senor Cossio believes this to be the picture from Titulcia as it corresponds in size, in style, and in importance with the other works. The fifth picture, “ The Assumption of the Magdalene,” which is placed in the dtico, is the most interesting of all. We see the saint completely nude, sup- ported by angels. This is one of the few nude figures of women that Greco painted ; a fact ex- plained by the conditions of art in Spain, where the depicting of the female nude was prohibited by the Church. On 1 6th November 1609 a contract was made by Greco before the notary Miguel Diaz to construct 164 EL GRECO the Retablos of the Hospital of San Juan Bautista founded by Cardinal Tavera at Toledo. 1 The first payment of 30,000 reals, we learn from Cean Bermudez, was not made until the 19th May 1609. This is the last work of Greco, and it is probable that he died before it was completed. Only one picture of importance, “ The Baptism of Christ,” is to be found in its original position ; it is on the right side of the church over the altar of the Baptist. The three pictures of the high altar, separated now from the sculpture and architecture, are inferior works of a later date ; perhaps copies of the original pictures. The “ St Peter ” in the atico of the altar of the Baptist is a replica of the many pictures Greco painted of the apostle. It belongs to this late period. But the picture in the dtico of the opposite altar on the left is a “ Holy Family ” almost identical with the beautiful “ Holy Family,” in Paris, which we noticed in Chapter XI. This canvas cannot have been painted by Greco for its present position ; it belongs to the earlier calmer style that marked the last years of his middle period and is entirely different from his final manner. Then the picture which should be beneath it, corresponding to “ The 1 Register of the Archives of Toledo. Senor Cossio “ El Greco,” p. 337. FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 165 Baptism of Christ,” is missing, its place being taken by a very insignificant “ Annunciation.” Senor Cossio, judging from these significant facts, be- lieves that these pictures were placed in the church after the death of Greco. 1 We know that George Manuel was appointed to succeed his father in carrying out the work ; probably it was he who supplied the unfinished works, either with pictures found in the studio of his father, or with copies made by himself. This would account for the presence of " The Holy Family ” of an earlier date. Senor Cossio does not think that the in- tended subject of “ The Annunciation ” was painted by Greco ; there is no known picture of this subject which corresponds with the size of the altar of San Juan Bautista. “ The Baptism of Christ” (Plate 101), the picture which closes Greco’s activity, is, judging by its style and the manner in which the subject is ap- proached, the most typical painting of this final mood, in which we find the exaltation of the idea carried to the furthest point of expression. This singular composition is almost identical in design with the other earlier Baptism ; painted in the passionate years of the middle period, for the Church of Doha Maria de Aragdn, now in the 1 “ El Greco,” pp. 338-341. i66 EL GRECO Prado. Compare the two pictures (Plates 4, 101). What we find is that all that is singular and imaginative in the first picture has gained in intensity in the second rendering of the subject. Imagination has reached the point of frenzy. There is not one detail in the late “ Baptism ” that does not startle the spectator. Yes, we can understand the legend preserved in Toledo of Greco’s madness ; we can understand, too, the opinion of all his contemporaries, who comment on “ the singularity of the man and the artist,” and especially the surprise of the academic Pacheco aroused in the visit he paid to the studio of Greco in these years, 1 when perchance he saw this picture. But look longer at this " Baptism ” — always the danger is that you will not wait long enough with Greco ; a painter who sees for himself must be studied not dismissed as he who but set down the common vision of things. Well, would it have been possible to gain the effects of this picture without the defects ? If things are forced out of harmony it is for the sake of “ telling strongly.” This picture is no wilful experiment, made as some have said “ in search for originality at any cost ” ; it is the true expression of an intense religious dramatic vision. 1 See pp. 72, 73. FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 167 In common with all these animated visions “ The Baptism of Christ " seems to be more the work of Greco's soul than of his hand. A great number of pictures of the saints and apostles, among which are many repetitions as well as replicas of old pictures ; as well as numer- ous Crucifixions (Plates 59, 86, 118, 130) — the majority lightly painted and of exaggerated style — must be placed in these last years of Greco's activity. It is probable that many are copies made by George Manuel or one of Greco's pupils. These works need not detain us. A few composition pictures claim our attention. A picture belonging to this late period, “ The Adoration of the Shepherds," has just been added to the Metropolitan Museum at New York (Plate 131). It is instructive to compare this picture with that other picture on the same subject which was painted by Greco in his youth for Santo Domingo el Antigua (Plate 80). There is the same intimate realism in the rendering of the Bible story, the same search for local truth ; but a new ardour is added ; we are conscious that the idea of the Holy story has penetrated more deeply into the artist’s soul. This is a very beautiful picture. With this “ Adoration of the Shepherds " we may place, though of much less importance, two pictures i68 EL GRECO of “ The Annunciation ” : that of San Nicolas, Toledo (Plate 87), which is unfortunately hung in the sacristy of the church where it is not shown to the public ; the other (Plate 85) in Paris, belong- ing to Senor Zuloaga. A repetition of the latter picture, from the Church of Vent as con Pena Aguilera, was exhibited in the Spanish Gallery of the Corporation of London, 1901. The picture was lent by D. M'Corkindale, Esq. Again these late “ Annunciations ” should be contrasted with " The Annunciation ” of the Prado (Plate 1), one of the first works of Greco. In no way can we come so well to an understanding of his art as by this com- parison, so often possible, between progressive renderings of the same subjects carried out in successive periods of his evolution. Perhaps the most striking of all such contrasts is that which exists between “ The Assumption ” of Santo Domingo (Plate 29), with its memories of Titian and Venice, and the passionate “ Assumption ” of San Vicente (Plate 89). These two pictures mark the beginning and the culmination of Greco's art. One quality may be noticed in all these later pictures : the outlines of the figures themselves, solidly painted, merge into the tints of the sur- rounding colours exactly as they do in life. It is FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 169 this truth of colour gained with incessant experi- ment that makes Greco the true father of im- pressionism. As we stated in an earlier chapter, colour was his greatest discovery. “ The Pentecost " or “ Descent of the Holy Ghost/' now in the Prado (Plate 6), and “ Christ's Agony in the Garden," 1 1 in the Lille Museum of Pictures, belong to the same passionate phase as the picture of San Vicente, the compositions of the Magdalene, and “ The Baptism," of the Hospital of Tavera. The former canvas has been almost all repainted ; but still we are held and charmed by the flame-like aspect of the scene, lighted so splendidly by the row of torches placed behind the ecstatic figures. In the scene in Gethsemane we see Christ and the Angel in the upper part of the canvas ; the disciples in troubled sleep are shown below. This is a disquieting passionate realisation of the scene — the sky, lighted by a strange moon, the vehement rocks of the landscape, the few trees, seem to share in the agony of the struggle. Even more passionate are the last compositions we have to notice : “ The Apocalypse " (Plate 56), wrongly entitled “ Divine and Profane Love," 1 Senor Cossio mentions two replicas of this picture, one very similar in the oratory of the Duke of Medina Celi, in the town of the same name ; the other in the convent of Las Nuevas, Madrid, more moderate, but of far less power. 170 EL GRECO another splendid example of Greco’s art that belongs to Sehor Zuloaga, in Paris. The second picture, “ The Death of Laocoon ” (Plate 126), is a canvas of special interest, being the only picture of Greco inspired by classical poetry. It was for many years in the Palace of San Telmo, Seville ; now it is in the possession of the Infante Don Antonio de Orleans. It is impossible to attempt a description of either picture ; the illustrations will speak more effect- ively than words (Plates 56, 126). Look at the gigantic kneeling figure in the first picture, and the small nude figure placed before the immense heavy cloth, and note the tempestuous sky. What movement, what feverish hurry ! It is the most imaginative realisation possible of the scene ; a wild magic tending to delirium. Then notice in the second picture the beautiful landscape of Toledo that makes the background. It is char- acteristic of Greco that he translates Troy into the Spanish city. For the head of Laocoon he has used the model who figures in the pictures of St Peter. The classical picture technically is finer than " The Apocalypse ” ; but it is in the scriptural scene that the spirit of Greco lives : “ The last note of the ascending scale/’ as Senor Cossio calls it. Here emphasis bums to a white FINAL PERIOD, 1600-1614 171 flame of ardent expression. There is a haunting foretaste of Blake in this strangely wonderful ex- periment. Both these great ones did, in very truth, imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light than our eyes are able to see. X ARCHITECTURE. SCULPTURE. DRAWINGS In the course of the preceding chapters we have passed in review those pictures of Greco which we believe to be authentic. The majority of these works are religious legendary compositions — there is only one classical subject — thirty-seven portraits, numerous presentments of apostles and saints, and two landscapes. Incidentally we have spoken of some architecture and a few sculptured pieces which are, or are supposed to be, his work . 1 It is necessary, in order to complete this survey, to notice these last in detail. The account will be very short ; either these works have been destroyed or evidence of their authorship lost ; while even among the few accredited to Greco the attribution in several cases has to be denied. To begin with, we know of no building in Toledo, or in Spain that we owe to Greco. Historical de- scriptions and guide books of Toledo still attribute 1 Pages 30, 62, 85, 86. 172 ARCHITECTURE 173 to him the church of Santo Domingo el Antigua and the Casa de Ayuntamiento. Senor Cossio has by his patient research established the error of such attribution in both cases. The church of Santo Domingo, as we saw in the chapter in which we spoke of paintings of the altars , 1 was built, it seems, by Nicolas de Vergara, and certainly not by Greco. The Casa de Ayuntamiento was the work of Juan de Herrera, for in the municipal archives of Toledo Senor Cossio has found the papers relating to its building . 2 Other churches said to be by Greco have been destroyed. The church of Doha Maria de Aragdn, in Madrid, is now turned into the Palace of the Senate. It is Palomino who states that “ the plan of the church as well as the retablo were also Greco's.” 3 But again — as we saw in chapter VII. — this is a mistake, for in the accounts paid to Greco for his work the retablo only is mentioned. Then the church at Illescas of the Discalced Franciscans, which Greco is also said to have built, has entirely disappeared. The one building left, the Hospital de Nuestra Senora de la Caridad, in the same city, Senor Cossio has again discovered, 1 See pp. 85, 86. 2 These papers were published by Senor Cossio in “ La Lectura ” (Madrid 1903, No. 55). 3 See pp. 1 14, 1 15. 174 EL GRECO was not built by Greco. The plan and management was entrusted to Nicol&s de Vergara, and the work was carried out by the architects, Juan and Mateo Ouadrado, Pedro de Ugualde and Juan Martin. 1 Thus, in architecture, we are left only with the retablos to estimate Greco's power as builder and carver. Here we are upon surer ground. It is pro- bable that he undertook the decoration of all his important works ; and in many cases accounts of payments have been preserved that establish his work. It is interesting to note that these great altars, which we meet in every church in Spain, are without doubt the most characteristic ex- pression of the people in building and sculpture. The history of the retablos of Spain waits to be written. In these astonishing works, with their wealth of decoration and of statues, gilded and coloured to counterfeit life, we find strongly accentuated the Spanish qualities of realism and exaggerated emotion, expressed chiefly in the mien and gestures of the figures. The first altar was that of Santo Domingo el Antigua (Plate 103), which Senor Cossio believes was Greco’s work on account of its difference from the other retablos of Spain. 2 In this retablo, as in “ The Ascension,” the picture of the central altar, 1 “El Greco,” p. 459. 2 “ El Greco,” pp. 459, 460. ARCHITECTURE 175 Greco paid tribute to Titian and the Venetian painters. In the style of the altar he followed the Italian models. Senor Cossio points out the resemblance between the altar of Santo Domingo and the altars of Santa Maria Formosa and Santa Barbara of Palma. 1 There is no exuberance of decoration ; of slender proportions, without pillars or prominent mouldings, it serves simply as an appropriate setting for the paintings and beautiful statues. The altar of Santo Domingo must be placed with Greco’s Italian work. 2 The next architectural works of Greco — the decoration of “ The Expolio ” of the cathedral, and the altars of the church of Dona Maria de Aragon have disappeared. Of this first work — praised so highly by the Spanish writers — there has just — in 1901 — been re-found, stored away in the New Seminary of Toledo, a beautiful carved group of the Virgin giving the chasuble to San Ildefonso. We come to the two altars that belong re- spectively to the two divisions of Greco’s second period ; the altar of San Jose (Plate 93), at Toledo, and the important altar of the Caridad at Illescas (Plate 129). 3 Both are Spanish works ; 1 “ El Greco, pp. 126-132 and 459. 2 See p. 86. 3 See pp. 120 and 124. EL GRECO 176 they are very similar, and quite unlike the earlier altar of Santo Domingo. In the Greco-Roman style, they have the heavy proportions that belong to Castilian architecture, giving an appearance that overpowers more than frames the pictures. These retablos are almost without carvings. Two more altars belong to the final period : one probably Greco’s work ; that of the Church of Titulcia ; the other certainly his — the last work that he executed — the great altar of the Hospital of San Juan Bautista (Plate 102). The plan of the two altars is different ; both are, as Senor Cossio states, “ excellent examples of the two types of altars seen most frequently in Spain.” 1 There is a small series only of carved statues belonging certainly to Greco ; and no single example stands out to challenge a comparison with his pictures. The five beautiful statues of Santo Domingo Senor Cossio attributes to Greco. (Plate 93). This attribution we may accept. The types are the same that we meet with in the pictures with which they correspond. Senor Cossio places the statues first among Greco’s carved pieces. 2 The eight Apostles of late retablo of the Hospital of San Juan Bautista, painted white in 1 “ El Greco,” p.461. 2 “El Greco,” pp. 461-463. SCULPTURE 177 the strange Spanish fashion to imitate marble, are not important. Though well designed, they lack the originality and life that we expect from Greco. It is probable, as Senor Cossio suggests, that Greco left these works unfinished ; we would add that though the designs of the statues are his, pro- bably they were carried out by George Manuel, his son. I11 the destroyed convent of the Discalced Franciscans at Illescas there were two tombs with life-size statues of Don Gedeon de Hinojosa, minister of the council and chamber of Castile and of the council of the chamber of the Indies, who died in 1595, and of Doha Catalina Velasco, his wife, said to be by Greco. Ponz describes them and calls them " magnificent.” Their loss is to be 'the more deplored ; moreover, they are the only statues in marble by Greco of which we have any record. But among the few statues by Greco, the most important is the recovered “ Virgin presenting the Chasuble to San Ildefonso,” a portion of the lost altar that Greco made for “ The Expolio.” The present writers have not seen this interesting work, which was only found in 1901. But the illustra- tion given in Senor Cossio’s volume 1 bears witness 1 “ El Greco,” pp. 468-471. Plate 142. M EL GRECO 1 78 to the beauty and importance of this carving. The figures have the intensity and life of Greco’s paintings. The almost entire absence of drawings by Dominico Greco, must incline us to believe that, like Velazquez, he executed his pictures without making a preliminary sketch of the composition. It seems hardly possible that, had he done otherwise, all his drawings should have disappeared. There are in the Biblioteca National of Madrid six drawings which are more or less doubtfully attributed to Greco. Of these six drawings, Senor Cossio believes one only to be genuine ; the very beautiful drawing of "St John the Evangelist,” a study for the figure of the altar of Santo Domingo. Another of the drawings, de- picting the “ Last Supper,” was published in the “Hispana” as genuine; Senor Cossio does not accept it ; The remaining four drawings, “ A Saint,” “ St Sebastian,” “ A Seated Cardinal,” and “ A Man’s Head,” are still more doubtful. And the same may be said of the supposed Greco drawings in Paris, in Berlin, in Munich ; and those that are scattered in a few other places. The only drawing attributed to Greco that is known to us in England is the spirited drawing in DRAWINGS 179 the Print Room of the British Museum, which formerly was supposed to be by Tintoretto. Senor Cossio doubts the authenticity of this drawing also. After many long and careful examinations of the work we are inclined to disagree. To us this drawing has the character- istics that belong to Greco in his Roman- Venetian period. We would place it at about the same time as “ The Cleansing of the Temple/’ although, in absence of other examples of his work, it is impossible to say with certainty that the drawing is his. M* XI el greco’s influence The moment has come, now we are in the presence of all Greco’s work, to ask : What was his influence ? What part has he played in the history of art ? In order to answer these questions in full it would be necessary to write another volume. We must limit ourselves to a few brief remarks. Works of such dominant personality, executed by a man of such a singular temperament, of necessity found little response in his own age. Greco attained fame in Toledo ; it is more doubtful whether he gained popularity. It would seem rather that he forced his personality on his contemporaries in the same way in which he forced his own style on the accustomed formulas of art. The legend of his madness, and the supposed alteration of his style to free himself from the charge of being the follower of Titian, were invented by his immediate successors to explain what they were unable to understand. It is not 180 EL GRECO’S INFLUENCE 181 the only time that personality has paid such price. The common opinion of the Greco- Venetian painter was that circulated by Palomino : “ What he did well no one did better, and what he did badly was never done worse.” In his own time Greco stood alone — that is the first truth we learn. Certainly he had no imitators, and few pupils. These pupils may be dismissed in a few words. George Manuel succeeded his father as architect to the Cathedral, holding the post until he died, in 1631. We know that he copied his father’s pictures, for we have an example in “ The Expolio ” of the Prado that bears his signature. There is no originality in his work ; and it is certain that many inferior canvases, repetitions of other pictures that pass as the work of the father, are really his copies. Of the pupil Juan Bautista Mayno there is still less to say. His one picture of importance, the “ Adoration of the Kings,” in the Prado, may show a flickering trace of Greco’s influence. Less gifted even than Mayno was Orrente, another supposed pupil of Greco, of him we need say nothing at all. Luis Tristan, the favourite pupil, who we know executed commissions on the recommenda- tion of his master, was the painter who did Greco 182 EL GRECO most credit. He imitated his master in certain pictures ; for instance, in the really interesting “ Trinity/’ in Seville Cathedral, which has passed as the work of Greco until just recently, when, during the process of cleaning, was discovered on the canvas Tristan’s name. How many more indifferent Greco’s belong to Tristan ? It is possible that in the days to come he will be the scapegoat to receive all the discredited Greco’s, as Mazo has received those of Velazquez. Cer- tainly in other pictures where Tristan attempts to stand alone, as in the retablo of the Parish Church of Yepes, he reveals how really insignifi- cant was his native talent. He has, however, painted a few good portraits. Dominico Greco died when Velazquez was fifteen years old ; and the great Spanish painter was his only true pupil. Senor Cossio is right when he says “ El Greco is a necessary antecedent to the work of Velazquez,” and again in a longer and important passage : “ Velazquez was the only one capable of learning from him with advantage, taking possession of the two essential elements which his work contains for posterity, on the one hand his method of colouring which widened the horizon of art, and, on the other, his lofty idealism which no other brush except El Greco’s has EL GRECO’S INFLUENCE 183 attained in Spain, and from which flows all the elegance, the distinction, and the chivalry which links the two artists ; and which are the common property — almost exclusively so — of these two in Spanish painting.” 1 Senor de Beruete, the able biographer of Velazquez, acknowledges this great influence ; indeed, it is significant that El Greco’s is the one influence that he does recognise in the formation of the art of the great Spaniard. He writes : “ The wide-spread opinion that Velazquez at this time imitated the Venetians and especially Tintoretto, arises from the impression produced on him by El Greco, whose style offered so many points of resemblance to that of Titian, and above all to that of Tintoretto, his masters. Velazquez did not come under the direct influence of these painters, not even at the time when we might suppose him specially susceptible to an impulse of this nature — that is, at the time when he studied and copied the principal Venetian masters. The adoption by Velazquez of certain silver-grey tints in the colouring of the flesh, the use of special carmines, a greater freedom of execution in the draperies, fabrics, and other accessories, such are the points where the influence of El Greco may be observed.” 2 “ x El Greco,” pp.514, 521-522. 2 “ Velazquez,” p. 47. 184 EL GRECO No testimony could well be stronger than the calm estimate of this careful critic. Thus we come to our second point. The world that has claimed and crowned Velazquez cannot any longer reject El Greco. We do not settle the account of genius when we have called it unusual, fantastic, or decadent. It is the solution of the dull that genius is extravagant consciously. Let anyone who still questions the debt that Velazquez owed to Greco com- pare certain pictures of the two painters : Velazquez’ “ Coronation of the Virgin,” for instance, with Greco’s composition that be- longs to Don Pablo Bosch (Plate 28), or the Count of Benevente with the Count Orgaz in “ The Enterrio ” — a resemblance noted by Senor de Beruete — the Montanes of Velazquez with the portrait of Pompeyo Leoni — as well as many other pictures ; there are even, as Senor Cossio shows, points of contact between the great “ Las Lanzas ” and the rejected “ San Maurice.” The resemblance is the most startling of all, as we have noticed in the chapter upon the portraits, 1 between the famous Innocent X. and Nino de Guevara (Plate 55). It is the fate of fore- runners to be forgotten : in art, even more 1 Page 143. EL GRECO’S INFLUENCE 185 certainly than in life, one man soweth and another inheriteth his labour. Disowned for three centruies, still often mis- judged — for it is as easy to over-estimate as it is to dislike his art — El Greco had sunk to the rank of a local celebrity, unknown outside of Toledo except to a few connoisseurs. But a reaction has set in, and to-day Greco’s place in the world’s art is an assured one. For his restless assertion of personality appeals especially to this age that arrogates above all the right of the individual to ex- press himself. Then the art of El Greco is intel- lectual, and we worship intellect. So great, indeed, has the reaction been that some would give to Greco one of the highest places in the temple of art. This is a mistake. His art from the first was a series of magnificent experiments; challenges of personal egotism almost. Sometimes he succeeded splendidly, and sometimes he failed, for his work has, of course, the defects of its qualities. His genius was a rejection even more than a creative force — a refusal even more than a triumph. Hating the commonplace, avoiding always the beaten track, he spent his strength in a search to find for himself a truer expression of form and colour. And we reach our last point. In this passionate i86 EL GRECO and incessant search for truth of colour Greco did succeed. He was the first to under- stand the effect that one colour has in changing the tone of another colour. Yes; colour was Greco’s great gift to Velazquez — and to the world. ERRATA IN THE TITLES OF THE PLATES Unfortunately the plates were entitled and arranged before the text of the book was written. Plate 26. “Portrait of Juan Bautista Mayo” should be “ Portrait of a Friar.” Plate 27. “Portrait of a Student” should be “Ignatius Loyola.” This portrait does not now belong to Don Pablo Bosch ; it is in the possession of Messrs Trotty et Cie, Paris. Plate 32. “ San Sebastian.” \ owned by the Plate 33. “ The Assumption of the Virgin.” I Marques de Plate 34. “ Portrait of Fray Felix Hortensio j la Vega de Palaviccino.” ' Inclan. Plate 35. “St. Peter.” Plate 44. “ San Roque ” should be “ Santiago.” Plate 50. The title should be “ Raising a Flame ” ; the picture is in England at the Carfax Gallery. Plate 51. “The Deposition from the Cross” is now in the possession of Messrs Trotty et Cie, Paris. Plate 58. “ St. Jerome ” is in the possession of Doha M. Montijo, Madrid. Plate 62. “ St. John ” should be “ A Saint ” ; the picture is in Montreal, Canada, in the possession of Sir W. Van Horne. Plate 63. “ St. Francis ” is in the possession of Don R. Garcia, Madrid. Plate 78. “ Our Lady of Sorrows ” ; this picture cannot be accepted as the work of El Greco. Plate 85. “ The Annunciation ” is not at Toledo ; it is in Paris, in the possession of Don Ignacio Zuloaga. Plate 88. “ San Pedro Nolasa ” should be " Santo Domingo de Guzman.” 187 i88 EL GRECO Plate 9 2. “ Jesus and the Virgin ” of San Vicente, Toledo. This is a copy of a lost picture. Plate 98. “Jesus and St. John ” should be “St. John the Evangelist” and “St. John the Baptist.” Plate 108. “St. Andrew ” should be “ St. Matthew.” Plate no. “ St. James ” should be “ St. Thomas.” Plate 1 1 3. “ St. Thomas ” should be “ St. James the Less.” Plate 1 1 5. “St. Matthew ” should be “ St. Philip.” Plate 124. Should be “ Portrait of Don Diego Covarrubias.” Don Diego was brother, not son, of Don Antonio Covarrubias. Plate 125. “ Portrait of El Greco ” should be “ Portrait of a Painter.” Plate 126. “ The Laocoon ” is now in the Palace of the Infante Don A. de Orleans. Plate 1 31. “The Adoration of the Shepherds” is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Plate 132. “ St. Francis” is in the possession of the Marques de Pidal, Madrid. Plate 134. “ Portrait of a Lady ” is in the possession of the Marques de la Vega Inclan, Toledo. Plate 135. “ Head and Bust of Cardinal Nino de Guevara ” is in Paris, in the possession of the Heirs of Mons. R. Kalm. Plate 136. “A Saint Praying” should be Santo Domingo de Guzman ; the picture is in Valencia, in the possession of Dona Sanz Bremon. TURK BULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH The Annunciation, Prado, Madrid. PLATE 2. Jesus Christ dead in the arms of God the Father. Prado Madrid. PLATE The Holy Family. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 4. The Baptism of Christ. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 5, The Resurrection Trado, Madrid. PLATE 6. The Coming of ti-ie Holy Ghost. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 7. The Crucifixion. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 8. St. Paul. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 9. St. Anthony. Prado, Madrid, PLATE 10. San Basilio. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 1 1 San Basilio. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 12. The Virgin. (Not Catalogued.) Prado, Madrid. MATE 13. Don Rodrigo Vazquez, President of Castile. Prado, Madrid, PLATE 14. Portrait of a Doctor. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 15. Portrait of a Man. Prado, Madrid. TLATE 1 6. Portrait of a Man. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 17. Portrait of a Man. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 1 8 . Portrait of a Man. Prado, Madrid. TLATE I§. Portrait of a Man. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 20. Portrait of a Man. Prado, Madrid. PLATE 21. Jesus driving the Money Changers from the Temple. Senor A. de Beruete, Madrid. PLATE 22, Christ with tiie Cross. Senor A. de Beruete, Madrid. PLATE 23. San Bernardo, Archbishop of Toledo. Madrid Museum. PLATE 24. Portrait of El Greco by himself. Senor A. de Beruete, Madrid. PLATE 25. PORTEATT OF DON. GASPAR DE QUIROGA. Senor A. de Beruete, Madrid. PLATE 2 6. Portrait of Juan Bautista Mayno. Don Pablo Boscii, Madrid. PLATE 27. PLATE 28. The Coronation of the Virgin. Don Pablo Bosch. PLATE 29, The Assumption of the Virgin, Art Institute, Chicago, U.S.A, PLATE 30. St. Francis. Don Fernando Brieva. PLATE 31. Mary Magdalene. Don Jose de la Bastida. PLATE 32. San Sebastian. Marques de Casa Torres. PLATE 33. The Assumption of the Virgin. Marques de Casa Torres. £ LATE 34* Fray Felix Hortensio de Palaviccino Marques de Casa Torres. PLATE 35. St. Peter. Marques de Casa Torres. PLATE 36. St. John the Evangelist. Marques de Cerralbo. PLATE 37- NT01\MI,)[)>I PLATE 38. St. Francis. Marquis de Castro Serna. PLATE 39. St. Jerome. Marques de Castro Serna. PLATE 40. San Sebastian. Marques de la Yega InclAn. PLATE 41. St. Francis in ecstasy. Marques de Cerralbo. PLATE 42. Group of Angels. Don Pl ac Ido Frances. PLATE 43. Mary Magdalene. Don Cristobal Ferriz. PLATE 44. San Roque. Dona Maria del Carmen Mendieta. PLATE 45. St. Francis. Dona Maria del Carmes Mendieta. f Late 46. Fray Felix Hortensio de Palavicino. F.A.M., Boston, U.S.A. PLATE 4 7. St. Francis. Don Nilo Maria Fabra, PLATE 48. Christ with the Cross. Don Jose.. Mengs. PLATE 49. Christ with the Cross. Don Luis Navas. PLATE 50. Man is like Fire and Woman like Tow. Don Luis Navas, Madrid. PLATE 51 The Deposition from the Cross Don Luis Navas, Madrid. PLATE 52. St. Francis. Don Segismundo Moret y Quintana. PLATE 53. The Holy Family. Don E. Orossen. PLATE 54. Fragmen t of Don Fernando Nino de Guevara, U.S. of America. PLATE 55- Do.\ Fernando Nino de Guevara. U.S. of America. PLATE 56. Divine and Profane Love. Don Rafael Vazquez. PLATE 57. St. Peter and St. Paui Marquesa de Perinat. PLATE 58. St. Jerome. Don Maximino Pena. PLATE 50. Christ Crucified. Don Jose Suarez, PLATE 60, View of Toledo. CoNDESA DE ONATE. PLATE 6 1 St. Francis. Don Ignacio Zuloaga, HI PLATE 62 , St. John. Don Antonio Vives, PLATE 63. St. Francis. Private Collection PLATE 64. Ti-ie Dream of Thilip II. Chapter Hall of the Escorial. PLATE 65, St. Maurice with his Theban Legion Chapter Hall of the Escorial. PLATE 66, St. Peter. The Escorial. PLATE 67, San Eugenio. The Escorial PLATE 68. St. Francis. The Escoriae. PI ATE 69. The Interment of Count Orgaz, Church of Santo Tomj£. Toledo. PLATE 70. Detail of the Interment of Count Orgaz. Church of Santo Tome, Toledo- PLATE 71. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz. PLATE 72. Fr \GMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT OF Orgaz. PLATE 73. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of* Orgaz. PLATE 74- Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz. PLATE 75. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz. PLATE 76. Fragment of the Interment of the Count of Orgaz. PLATE / /• Fragment of the Interment of the Count OF OkGAZ. PLATE 78. Our Lady of Sorrows. Sacristy of tiie New Kings, Toledo Cathedral. PLATE 79. Stripping our Lord before the Crucifixion. Sacristy, Toledo Cathedral. PLATE 8o. The Birth of Jesus. Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo. PLATE 8l. The Ascension. Santo Domingo el Antiouo, Toledo. PLATE 82. St. John Baptist. Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo. PLATE 83. St. John- the Evangelist. Church of Santo Domingo, Toledo. TLATli 84. Santa Veronica with the Sudarium, Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo. Plate 85. The Annunciation. Toledo. PLATE 86, The Crucifixion. San Nicolas, Toledo. PLATE 87. The Annunciation. San Nicolas, Toledo. PLATE 88. San Pedro Nolasco. Parish Church of San Nicolas, Toledo. PLATE 89. The Assumption. Parish Cpiurch of San Vicente. Toledo. PLATE 90. St. Peter. Parish Church of San Vicente, Toledo. PLATE 91. San Eugenio, Parish Church of San Vicente, Toledo. PLATE 92. Jesus and the Virgin. Parish Church of San Vicente, Toledo. PLATE 93. The Virgin. Toledo, Marques de la Vega Inclan. PLATE 94. St. Martin. Chapel of San Jose, Toledo. > ' ’ . PLATE 95. Ascension of the Virgin. Chapel of San Jose, Toledo. PLATE 96. San Jose and the Child Jesus. Parish Church of the Magdalene, Toledo. PLATE 97. The Virgin, St. Anne, Child Jesus, and St. John, Chapel of St. Anne, Toledo. PLATE 98, Jesus and St. John. Church of St. John Baptist, Toledo. PLATE 99- Patio in the house of El Greco. Toledo. PLATE IOO. Portrait of Cardinal Tavera. Hospital of St. John Baptist, Toledo. PLATE IOI. The Baptism of Jesus. Hospital of St. John Baptist, Toledo. PLATE 102. View of the High Altar of the Tavera Hospital, Toledo PLATE I03. Altar-piece of the Convent of Santo Dominoo, Toledo. PLATE I04. St. Francis of Assisi. College of noble Ladies, Toledo. PLATE I05. Our Saviour. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE Io6. St. Paul. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE IO7. St. Peter. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE Io8. St. Andrew. Provincial Museum, Toledo PLATE I09. St. Philip. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE IIO. St. James. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE III. St. Matthew. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 1 1 2. St. John. Provincial Museum, Toledo^ PLATE II St. Thomas. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 1 14. St Bartholomew. Provincial Museum, Toledo, PLATE 1 15. St. Mathias. Provincial Museum, Toledo, PLATE 1 1 6 . St. Judas Tadeo. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 1 1 7 . St. Simon. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 1 1 8. The Crucifixion. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE I T9- Allegory of the Virgin. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 120. Portrait of Juan de Avila. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 1 21 . Portrait of Antonio Covarrubias, Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 122. General View of Toledo. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 123. General View of Toledo. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 124. Portrait of the Son of Covarrubias. Provincial Museum, Toledo. PLATE 125 ) Portrait of El Greco py Himself. Seville Museum, PLATE 126. The Death of Laocoon and his Sons at the Siege of Troy. San Telmo, Seville. PLATE I27. Tiiic Annunciation. Barcelona. PLATE 128. San Ildefonse. Illescas. PLATE 129. Altar-piece of the Hospital of Charity, Ilt.escas. PLATE 130. The Crucifixion. PLATE 1 31. The Adoration of the Shepherds. PLATE 132. St. Francis receiving the Stigmata. PLATE 133. St. Francis. PLATE 134. Portrait of a Lady. PLATE I35. Cardinal Nino de Guevara. PLATE 136. A Saint Praying. THE SPANISH SERIES By ALBERT F. CALVERT A NEW and important series of volumes, dealing with Spain in its various aspects, its history, its cities and monuments. Each volume will be complete in itself in a uniform binding, and the number and excellence of the reproductions from pictures will justify the claim that these books comprise the most copiously illustrated series that has yet been issued, some volumes having over 400 pages of reproductions of pictures, etc. The series will contain over 6,000 illustrations. I Goya with 612 illustrations 2 Toledo .... „ 5 io ,, 3 Madrid .... „ 453 ,, 4 Galicia .... 5 Seville .... „ 300 ,, 6 Murillo .... „ 165 ,, 7 Cordova .... ,, 160 8 El Greco .... „ 136 „ 9 Velazquez .... „ 136 ,, 10 Cervantes .... 1 1 The Prado .... „ 220 12 The Escorial „ 278 13 Statuary in Spain 14 Cities of Andalucia . IS Murcia and Valencia . „ 300 16 Royal Palaces of Spain ,, 164 17 Spanish Arms and Armour . „ 386 ff 18 Granada and the Alhambra ,, 460 >> 19 Leon, Burgos and Salamanca ,, 462 20 Tapestries of the Royal Palace ,, 250 21 Catalonia & Balearic Islands ,, 250 22 Santander, Vizcaya & Navarre 23 Valladolid, Oviedo, Segovia, Zamora, Avila and Zaragoza ,» 413 »> 1 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME MURILLO A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 165 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTO- GRAPHS OF HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES W HILE the names of Murillo and Velazquez are inseparably linked in the history of Art as Spain’s immortal contribution to the small band of world-painters, the great Court-Painter to Philip IV. has ever re- ceived the lion’s share of public attention. Many learned and critical works have been written about Murillo, but whereas Velazquez has been familiarised to the general reader by the aid of small, popular biographies, the niche is still empty which it is hoped that this book will fill. In this volume the attempt has been made to show the painter’s art in its relation to the religious feeling of the age in which he lived, and his own feeling towards his art. Murillo was the product of his religious era, and of his native province, Andalusia. To Europe in his lifetime he signified little or nothing. He painted to the order of the religious houses in his immediate vicinity ; his works were immured in local monasteries and cathedrals, and, passing imme- diately out of circulation, were forgotten or never known. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL ARMOURY AT MADRID. ILLUSTRATED WITH 386 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS. DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.M. QUEEN MARIA CRISTINA OF SPAIN A LTHOUGH several valuable and voluminous catalogues of the Spanish Royal Armoury have, from time to time, been compiled, this “ finest collection of armour in the world ” has been subjected so often to the disturbing influences of fire, removal, and re-arrangement, that no hand catalogue of the Museum is available, and this book has been designed to serve both as a historical souvenir of the institution and a record of its treasures. The various exhibits with which the writer illustrates his narrative are repro- duced to the number of nearly 400 on art paper, and the selection of weapons and armour has been made with a view not only to render the series interesting to the general reader, but to present a useful text book for the guidance of artists, sculptors, antiquaries, costumiers, and all who are engaged in the repro- duction or representation of European armoury. 2 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME THE ESCORIAL A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH ROYAL PALACE, MONASTERY AND MAUSO- LEUM. ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS AND 278 REPRO- DUCTIONS FROM PICTURES AND PHOTOGRAPHS T HE Royal Palace, Monastery, and Mausoleum of El Escorial, which rears its gaunt, grey walls in one of the bleakest but most imposing districts in the whole of Spain, was erected to commemorate a victory over the French in 1557. It was occupied and pillaged by the French two and a-half centuries later, and twice it has been greatly diminished by fire ; but it remains to-day, not only the incarnate expression of the fanatic religious character and political genius of Philip II., but the greatest mass of wrought granite which exists on earth, the leviathan of architecture, the eighth wonder of the world. In the text of this book the author has endeavoured to reconstitute the glories and tragedies of the living past of the Escorial, and to represent the wonders of the stupendous edifice by reproductions of over two hundred and seventy of the finest photographs and pictures obtainable. Both as a review and a pictorial record it is hoped that the work will make a wide appeal among all who are interested in the history, the architecture, and the art of Spain. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE “CITY OF GENERATIONS,” WITH 510 ILLUSTRATIONS T HE origin of Imperial Toledo, “ the crown of Spain, the light of the world, free from the time of the mighty Goths,” is lost in the impene- trable mists of antiquity. Mighty, unchangeable, invincible, the city has been described by Wormann as “ a gigantic open-air museum of the architectural history of early Spain, arranged upon a lofty and con- spicuous table of rock.” But while some writers have declared that Toledo is a theatre with the actors gone and only the scenery left, the author does not share the opinion. He believes that the power and virility upon which Spain built up her greatness is reasserting itself. The machinery of the theatre of Toledo is fusty, the pulleys are jammed from long disuse, but the curtain is rising steadily if slowly, and already can be heard the tuning-up of fiddles in its ancient orchestra. In this belief the author of this volume has not only set forth the story of Toledo’s former greatness, but has endeavoured to place before his readers a panorama of the city as it appears to-day, and to show cause for his faith in the greatness of the Toledo of the future. 3 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME SEVILLE A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 300 ILLUSTRATIONS S EVILLE, which has its place in mythology as the creation of Hercules, and was more probably founded by the Phoenicians, which became magnificent under the Roman rule, was made the capital of the Goths, became the centre of Moslem power and splendour, and fell before the military prowess of St. Ferdinand, is still the Queen of Andalusia, the foster-mother of Velazquez and Murillo, the city of poets and pageantry and love. Seville is always gay, and responsive and fascinating to the receptive visitor, and all sorts of people go there with all sorts of motives. The artist repairs to the Andalusian city to fill his portfolio ; the lover of art makes the pilgrimage to study Murillo in all his glory. The seasons of the Church attract thousands from reasons of devotion or curiosity. And of all these myriad visitors, who go with their minds full of preconceived notions, not one has yet confessed to being disappointed with Seville. The author has here attempted to convey in the illustrations an impression of this laughing city where all is gaiety and mirth and ever-blossoming roses, where the people pursue pleasure as the serious business of life in an atmosphere of exhilarating enjoyment. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 462 ILLUSTRATIONS Tf" N Leon, once the capital of the second kingdom in Spain ; in Burgos, which ■ boasts one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Spain, and the custodian- B ship of the bones of the Cid ; and in Salamanca, with its university, which JL is one of the oldest in Europe, the author has selected three of the most interesting relics of ancient grandeur in this country of departed greatness. Leon to-day is nothing but a large agricultural village, torpid, silent, dilapi- dated ; Burgos, which still retains traces of the Gotho-Castilian character, is a gloomy and depleting capital ; and Salamanca is a city of magnificent buildings, a broken hulk, spent by the storms that from time to time have devastated her. Yet apart from the historical interest possessed by these cities, they still make an irresistible appeal to the artist and the antiquary. They are content with their stories of old-time greatness and their cathedrals, and these ancient architectural splendours, undisturbed by the touch of a modernising and renovat- ing spirit, continue to attract the visitor. 4 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN, TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION, THE ARCHITECTURE, AND THE DECORATION OF THE MOORISH PALACE, WITH 460 ILLUSTRATIONS. DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.I.M. THE EMPRESS EUGENIE T HIS volume is the third and abridged edition of a work which the author was inspired to undertake by the surpassing loveliness of the Alhambra, and by his disappointment in the discovery that no such thing as an even moderately adequate illustrated souvenir of “ this glorious sanc- tuary of Spain ” was obtainable. Keenly conscious of the want himself, he essayed to supply it, and the result is a volume that has been acclaimed with enthusiasm alike by critics, artists, architects, and archaeologists. In his preface to the first edition, Mr. Calvert wrote : “ The Alhambra may be likened to an exquisite opera which can only be appreciated to the full when one is under the spell of its magic influence. But as the witchery of an inspired score can be recalled by the sound of an air whistled in the street, so — it is my hope — the pale ghost of the Moorish fairy-land may live again in the memories of travellers through the medium of this pictorial epitome.’* UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME VALENCIA AND MURCIA A GLANCE AT AFRICAN SPAIN, WITH 345 ILLUS- TRATIONS E VERY traveller to the fertile provinces which form the subject of this volume has been forcibly impressed by their outward resemblance to the more favoured parts of Northern Africa. And here, only to a degree less than in Andalusia, the Moors made themselves very much at home, and have left behind them ineffaceable impressions. In this delightful region the dusky invaders established themselves at Valencia, which they dubbed the City of Mirth. The history of the land is alike a fevered dream of mediaevalism. Across its pages flit the shadowy forms of Theodomir, and the Cid and J aime lo Conqueridor, standing out against a back- ground of serried hosts and fla min g cities. The people to-day are true children of the sun, passionate, vivacious, physically well proportioned. The country is a terrestrial paradise, where the flowers ever blossom and the sun ever shines. To-day the Valencian supplements the bounty of Nature by enterprise and industry. His ports pulsate with traffic, and side by side with memorials of the life of a thousand years ago, modem social Spain may be studied at Alicante and El Cabanal, the Brighton and Trouville of the Peninsula. 5 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 413 ILLUSTRATIONS T HE glory of Valladolid has departed, but the skeleton remains, and at- tached to its ancient stones are the memories that Philip II. was born here, that here Cervantes lived, and Christopher Columbus died. In this one-time capital of Spain, in the Plaza Mayor, the fires of the Inquisition were first lighted, and here Charles V. laid the foundation of the Royal Armoury, which was afterwards transferred to Madrid. More than seven hundred years have passed since Oviedo was the proud capital of the Kingdoms of Las Asturias, Leon, and Castile. Segovia, though no longer great, has still all the appurtenances of greatness, and with her granite massiveness and austerity, she remains an aristocrat even among the aristocracy of Spanish cities. Zamora, which has a history dating from time almost without date, was the key of Leon and the centre of the endless wars between the Moors and the Christians, which raged round it from the eighth to the eleventh centuries. In this volume the author has striven to re-create the ancient greatness of these six cities, and has preserved their memories in a wealth of excellent and interesting illustrations. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME GALICIA THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE. A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT. ILLUSTRATED T HE old kingdom of Galicia may not inaptly be termed the Wales of Spain. Its people approximate closely to the old Celtic type, with a large admixture of the Teutonic blood of that strange forgotten tribe, the Suevi, who held sway here for two centuries. Though every traveller in Spain has met the sturdy patient Gallegos in the capacity of porters, servants, and workers, few trouble to visit their country — a pleasant land of green hills, deep valleys, smiling lakes, brawling streams, and long fjords like gulfs. Here is situated the celebrated shrine and cathedral of Santiago de Compostella, which during the ages of faith attracted so great a concourse of pilgrims that their path was compared to the Milky Way. Other cities there are in the old Kingdom — Corunna (dear to Englishmen), Vigo, Orense, Ponte- vedra — all described herein, and fraught with interest to the ecclesiologist and artist. In many respects akin to Portugal, Galicia has also a special interest as being the part of Spain least affected by Moorish and trans-Pyrenean influences, Readers of the wonderful studies of provincial life by the gifted novelist, Dona Emilia Pardo de Bazan, will thank Mr. Calvert for his description of the unfrequented country where she lays her scenes. 6 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME MADRID A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH CAPITAL, WITH 453 ILLUSTRATIONS M ADRID is at once one of the most interesting and most maligned cities in Europe. It stands at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the sea level, in the centre of an arid, treeless, waterless, and wind-blown plain ; but whatever may be thought of the wisdom of selecting a capital in such a situation, one cannot but admire the uniqueness of its position, and the magnificence of its buildings, and one is forced to admit that, having fairly entered the path of progress, Madrid bids fair to become one of the handsomest and most prosperous of European cities. The splendid promenades, the handsome buildings, and the spacious theatres combine to make Madrid one of the first cities of the world, and the author has endeavoured with the aid of the camera, to place every feature and aspect of the Spanish metropolis before the reader. Some of the illustrations reproduced here have been made familiar to the English public by reason of the interesting and stirring events connected with the Spanish Royal Marriage, but the greater number were either taken by the author, or are the work of photographers specially employed to obtain new views for the purpose of this volume. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME GOYA A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS OF 612 OF HIS PICTURES T HE last of the old masters and the first of the modems, as he has been called, Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes is not so familiarised to English readers as his genius deserves. He was born at a time when the tradition of Velazquez was fading, and the condition of Spanish painting was debased almost beyond hope of salvation ; he broke through the academic tradition of imitation ; “ he, next to Velazquez, is to be accounted as the man whom the Impressionists of our time have to thank for their most definite stimulus, their most immediate inspiration.” The genius of Goya was a robust, imperious, and fulminating genius ; his iron temperament was passionate, dramatic, and revolutionary ; he painted a picture as he would have fought a battle. He was an athletic warlike, and indefatigable painter ; a naturalist like Velazquez ; fantastic like Hogarth ; eccentric like Rembrandt ; the last flame-coloured flash of Spanish genius. It is impossible to reproduce his colouring ; but in the reproductions of his works the author has endeavoured to convey to the reader some idea of Goya’s boldness of style, his mastery of frightful shadows and mysterious lights, and his genius for expressing all terrible emotions. 7 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SEVEN PRINCIPAL PALACES OF THE SPANISH KINGS. WITH 164 ILLUSTRATIONS S PAIN is beyond question the richest country in the world in the number of its Royal Residences, and while few are without artistic importance, all are rich in historical memories. Thus, from the Alcazar at Seville, which is principally associated with Pedro the Cruel, to the Retiro, built to divert the attention of Philip IV. from his country’s decay ; from the Escorial, in which the gloomy mind of Philip II. is perpetuated in stone, to La Granja, which speaks of the anguish and humiliation of Christina before Sergeant Garcia and his rude soldiery ; from Aranjuez to Rio Frio, and from El Pardo, darkened by the agony of a good king, to Miramar, to which a widowed Queen retired to mourn : all the history of Spain, from the splendid days of Charles V. to the present time, is crystallised in the Palaces that constitute the patrimony of the Crown. The Royal Palaces of Spain are open to visitors at stated times, and it is hoped that this volume, with its wealth of illustrations, will serve the visitor both as a guide and a souvenir. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME THE ROYAL TAPESTRIES AT MADRID A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE COLLECTION OF BEAUTIFUL TAPESTRIES IN THE ROYAL PALACE AT MADRID. WITH OVER 200 ILLUSTRATIONS T HE Royal Palace at Madrid contains the most valuable and interesting collection of Tapestries in Europe. These were for the most part woven in Flanders, some in the early fifteenth century, at a time when the industry in that country had reached its zenith. At a later period the work of the Flemish artists was imitated in Spain itself with no little success. Among the designers of these superb works of art were Quentin Matsys, Pieter Brenghel, and the Divine Raphael himself. Not artis- tically only but historically the collection is of rare interest. The series illus- trating the Conquest of Tunis, for the light it throws on the history, equipment, and episodes of that expedition may be likened to the famous tapestries of Bayeux. Nor is it possible to gaze without peculiar interest on the costly draperies which housed the Majesty of Spain and the Empire — the hangings of the imperial throne of Charles V. The importance to the world of art and history of this collection was first sufficiently realized by his late Majesty, Don Alfonso XII., by whose command it was photographed and catalogued by the learned Count of Valencia de Don Juan, who had already accomplished the reorganization of the Royal Armoury. An account based on this catalogue of these priceless tapestries — forming a pictorial record of Spain’s most glorious achievements — is now for the first time published in England ; together with no fewer than 250 illustrations, reproducing the beauty in all its detail of these wonderful triumphs of the weaver’s craft. The book, or album as it might more correctly be termed, should find a place in the library of every student of the fine arts. 8 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME CORDOVA A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT CITY WHICH THE CARTHAGINIANS STYLED THE " GEM OF THE SOUTH,” WITH 160 ILLUSTRATIONS. BY ALBERT F. CALVERT AND WALTER M. GALLICHAN G AY-LOOKING, vivacious in its beauty, silent, ill-provided, depopulated, Cordova was once the pearl of the West, the city of cities, Cordova of the thirty suburbs and three thousand mosques ; to-day she is no more than an overgrown village, but she still remains the most Oriental town in Spain. Cordova, once the centre of European civilisation, under the Moors the Athens of the West, the successful rival of Baghdad and Damascus, the seat of learning and the repository of the arts, has shrunk to the proportions of a third- rate provincial town ; but the artist, the antiquary and the lover of the beautiful, will still find in its streets and squares and patios a mysterious spell that cannot be resisted. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME VIZCAYA AND SANTANDER SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CANTABRIAN LAND AND OF SPANISH NAVARRE. BY ALBERT F. CALVERT W HETHER or not the Basques be the aboriginal inhabitants of the Peninsula, they are at least the oldest of its peoples, and among the most interesting. Their language, their customs, their fueros or local code, above all their mysterious origin, have been the themes of discussion and speculation among the learned for centuries — and are likely to continue so. Meanwhile they flourish exceedingly, and their towns, or at least their sea-ports hum with life and energy. It is a wild stem coast this, of Northern Spain, constantly swept by gales from the troubled bay. In the inaccessible recesses of the giant peaks that stand sentinel over the land, the ancient Cantabrians for years defied the might of Rome, even as their descendants have always shown themselves ready to fight to the last gasp for their rights and liberties. Scenically there is no part of Spain more beautiful, though its beauty is of a grander, more rugged type than that of Andalusia or Valencia. Without indulging in long dissertations on the origin of the Basques, and ventilating theories as to the derivation of their language, the author endeavours to convey some idea of the charms of travel in a noble and unfrequented country, among an ancient and virile race. LIFE OF CERVANTES A NEW LIFE OF THE GREAT SPANISH AUTHOR TO COMMEMORATE THE TERCENTENARY OF THE PUBLICATION OF “ DON QUIXOTE,” WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS EDITIONS OF “ DON QUIXOTE “ A popular and accessible account of the career of Cervantes.” Daily Chronicle. “ A very readable and pleasant account of one of the great writers of all time.” Morning Leader. » REPRODUCTIONS FROM EARLY “ We recommend the book to all those to whom Cervantes is more than a mere name.” Westminster Gazette. “ A most interesting resume of all facts up to the present time known.” El Nervion de Bilbao, Spain. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME THE PRADO A GUIDE AND HANDBOOK TO THE ROYAL PIC- TURE GALLERY OF MADRID. ILLUSTRATED WITH 221 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF OLD MASTERS. BY ALBERT F. CALVERT AND C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY T HIS volume is an attempt to supplement the accurate but formal notes contained in the official catalogue of a picture gallery which is con- sidered the finest in the world. It has been said that the day one enters the Prado for the first time is an important event like marriage, the birth of a child, or the coming into an inheritance ; an ex- perience of which one feels the effects to the day of one’s death. The excellence of the Madrid gallery is the excellence of exclusion ; it is a collection of magnificent gems. Here one becomes conscious of a fresh power in Murillo, and is amazed anew by the astonishing apparition of Velazquez ; here is, in truth, a rivalry of miracles of art. The task of selecting pictures for reproduction from what is perhaps the most splendid gallery of old masters in existence, was one of no little difficulty, but it is believed that the collection is representative, and that the letterpress will form a serviceable companion to the visitor to The Prado. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME EL GRECO A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS OF OVER 140 OF HIS PICTURES. BY ALBERT F. CALVERT AND C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY I N a Series such as this, which aims at presenting every aspect of Spain’s eminence in art and in her artists, the work of Domenico Theotocopuli must be allotted a volume to itself. “ El Greco,” as he is called, who reflects the impulse, and has been said to constitute the supreme glory of the Venetian era, was a Greek by repute, a Venetian by training, and a Toledan by adoption. His pictures in the Prado are still catalogued among those of the Italian School, but foreigner as he was, in his heart he was more Spanish than the Spaniards. El Greco is typically, passionately, extravagantly Spanish, and with his advent, Spanish painting laid aside every trace of Provincialism, and stepped forth to compel the interest of the world. Neglected for many centuries, and still often misjudged, his place in art is an assured one. It is impossible to present him as a colourist in a work of this nature, but the author has got together reproductions of no fewer than 140 of his pictures — a greater number than has ever before been published of El Greco’s works. IO UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME VELAZQUEZ A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED WITH 136 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES. BY ALBERT F. CALVERT AND C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY. D IEGO RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA Y VELAZQUEZ—" our Velazquez,” as Palomino proudly styles him — has been made the subject of innu- merable books in every European language, yet the Editor of this Spanish Series feels that it would not be complete without the inclusion of yet another contribution to the broad gallery of Velazquez literature. The great Velazquez, the eagle in art — subtle, simple, incomparable — the supreme painter, is still a guiding influence of the art of to-day. This greatest of Spanish artists, a master not only in portrait painting, but in character and animal studies, in landscapes and historical subjects, impressed the grandeur of his superb personality upon all his work. Spain, it has been said, the country whose art was largely borrowed, produced Velazquez, and through him Spanish art became the light of a new artistic life. The author cannot boast that he has new data to offer, but he has put forward his conclusions with modesty ; he has reproduced a great deal that is most representative of the artist’s work ; and he has endeavoured to keep always in view his object to present a concise, accurate, and readable life of Velazquez. UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME CATALONIA AND THE BALEARIC ISLANDS AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT WITH OVER 250 ILLUSTRATIONS C ATALONIA is the Spain of to-day and of the future. While the cities of the Leon and Castile age sleeps peacefully, and seem lost in dreams of the glories of the past, Barcelona and her neighbouring towns throb with feverish modern life, and their citizens press forward eagerly in the path of material and intellectual progress. There are those who believe that Catalonia contains all the elements essential to the complete re- generation of Spain, and that she will raise the whole country to her industrial level. But the old county of Barcelona has a glorious and stirring past, as well as a promising future. Her history goes back to the days of Charlemagne, and has to tell of merchant princes and of hazardous commercial enterprise, reminding one of the Italian maritime republics. The Catalans, as is well known, are in many respects a distinct race from the Spaniards. They approximate to the Provencals, and have much of the charm attaching to that nation of singers and fighters. Full of ancient cities — Barcelona, Tarragona, Gerona, Lerida, among others — the province abounds with interest to sightseer and student alike. The Balearic Islands, one of which (Minorca) was long an English possession, constitute one of the most flourishing provinces of the Kingdom. Happiness and prosperity are writ large over their surface. The birthplace of that extraor- dinary genius, Raymond Lulli, these fortunate isles have never lost that old culture and urbanity introduced by the Moors. Delightful as a place of sojourn or residence, Majorca and her sister isles reveal many and conspicuous traces of that prehistoric race which once offered bloody sacrifices to the Sun on all the shores of the Inland Sea. II BY ALBERT F. CALVERT THE ALHAMBRA OF GRANADA, BEING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN FROM THE REIGN OF MOHAMMED THE FIRST TO THE FINAL EXPULSION OF THE MOORS, TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION, THE ARCHITEC- TURE AND THE DECORATION OF THE MOORISH PALACE, WITH 80 COLOURED PLATES AND NEARLY 300 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS (NEW EDITION). DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO H.M. KING ALFONSO XIII. Size 10 x Price £2 2s. net PRESS NOTICES “It is hardly too much to say that this is one of the most magnificent books ever issued from the English Press.” Building World. “One is really puzzled where to begin and when to stop in praising the illustrations.” Bookseller. “ The most complete record of this wonder of architecture which has ever been contemplated, much less at- tempted.” British Architect. “ A treasure to the student of decorative art.” Morning Advertiser. “ Mr. Calvert has given us a Book Beautiful.” Western Daily Press. “It is the last word on the subject, no praise is too high.” Nottingham Express. “May be counted among the more important art books which have been published during recent years.” The Globe. “Has in many respects surpassed any books on the Alhambra which up to the present have appeared in our own country or abroad.” El Graduador, Spain. “ It is one of the most beautiful books of modem times.” Ely Gazette. “ One of the most artistic produc- tions of the year.” Publishers' Circular. “The most beautiful book on the Alhambra issued in England.” Sphere. “ The standard work on a splendid subject.” Daily T elegraph. “ A remarkable masterpiece of book production.” Eastern Daily Press. “ A perfect treasure of beauty and delight.” Keighley News. “ A magnificent work.” Melbourne Age, Australia. “ I mm ense collection of fine plates.” The Times. “ Has a pride of place that is all its own among the books of the month.” Review of Reviews . 12 “ A standard work, the compilation of which would credit a life’s labour.” Hull Daily Mail. BY ALBERT F. CALVERT MOORISH REMAINS IN SPAIN BEING A BRIEF RECORD OF THE ARABIAN CONQUEST AND OCCUPATION OF THE PENINSULA, WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE MOHAM- MEDAN ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION IN THE CITIES OF CORDOVA, SEVILLE AND TOLEDO, WITH MANY COLOURED PLATES, AND OVER 400 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS, ETC., DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO H.M. KING ALFONSO XIII. Crown 4to. (7^ x ioins.) Price £ 2 2s. net PRESS NOTICES “ The making of this book must surely have been a veritable labour of love ; and love’s labour has certainly not been lost.” Pall Mall Gazette. “ The best age of Moorish architec- ture in Spain is shown with remarkable vividness and vitality.” The Scotsman. “ A most gorgeous book. . . . We cheerfully admit Mr. Calvert into the ranks of those whom posterity will applaud for delightful yet unprofitable work.” Outlook. “ A large and sumptuous volume.” Tribune. “The illustrations are simply marvels of reproduction.” Dundee Advertiser. “ One of the books to which a simple literary review cannot pretend to do justice.” Spectator. “ A special feature of a work of peculiar interest and value are the illustrations.” Newcastle Chronicle. “ The illustrations are given -with a minuteness and faithfulness of detail, and colour, which will be particularly appreciated and acknowledged by those who are most acquainted with the subject themselves.” Liverpool Post. “ It is impossible to praise too highly the care with which the illustrations have been prepared.” Birmingham Daily Post. “ It is illustrated with so lavish a richness of colour that to turn its pages gives one at first almost the same impression of splendour as one receives in wandering from hall to hall of the Alcazar of Seville ; and this is prob- ably the highest compliment we could pay to the book or its author.” Academy. “It is certainly one of the most interesting books of the year.” Crown. “ The occasional delicacy of design and harmony of colour can scarcely be surpassed .... a valuable and pro- fusely illustrated volume.” Guardian. “ An excellent piece of work.” The Times. “ Mr. Calvert has performed a use- ful work.” Daily Telegraph. “ A truly sumptuous volume.” The Speaker. “ Mr. Calvert has given a very complete account of the evolution of Moresco art.” The Connoisseur. 13 THE SPANISH SERIES EXTRACTS FROM THE OPINIONS OF THE PRESS “Sketch” . . Eight of these volumes, handsomely bound in the familiar red-and- gold colours of Spain, are already out, and are calculated to give English readers a most comprehensive survey of this fascinating land, and to convey a clear idea of its historic greatness. The get-up of the books is in every way worthy of a series of this magnitude — a series which, as one reviewer has said, could not have been carried out by another living author. . . .” November 13th, 1907. “ Queen.” “ . . No country has ever been illustrated so completely. The richness of Spain in Moorish and Gothic monuments is incredible, and Mr. Calvert has made them his special study. . . February 16th, 1907. “ Queen.” . . Mr. Calvert’s purpose is to make readily available to the ordinary English reader and traveller information which guide-books necessarily do not supply. The work involved in the collection of data must have been very great. He utilises his material with real literary skill, and there is not one of these books which is not equally pleasing and instructive to read. But their dominant feature, which puts them above and beyond all others in interest and educa- tional value, is the wealth of their illustrations. . . .” January, 190 7. “ British Weekly.” “ The Spanish Series provides an indispensable set of guide-books for the ever-increasing company of tourists in the Peninsula. . . . These handsomely produced volumes may be recommended to students of Spanish history and art, and to every intending traveller in Spain.” August 29 th, 1907. “ Academy.” “. . . A new and important series of volumes dealing with Spain in its various aspects, its history, its cities and monuments. Each volume will be complete in itself in an uniform binding, and the number and excellence of the reproductions from pictures will justify the claim that these books comprise the most copiously illustrated series that has yet been issued. The advent of some such series has been foreshadowed by the inauguration of cheap, circular tours to the Iberian Peninsula, and by the spasmodic issue of single volumes having more or less the nature of literary and artistic guide-books to Spain ; now that the long-antici- pated effort is to be made to fight with the pen of the people for Spain’s right to rank with Italy, Sicily, and Greece in the list of attractive European playing- grounds, we are indeed happy, even relieved, to know that the crusade has been organized under such promising conditions. . . .” June 29 th, 1907. “ St. Pancras Gazette.” “ Whether we regard the Spanish Series, which is being produced under the able editorship of Mr. Albert F. Calvert, as single volumes on subjects of 14 special interest, or as literary and artistic guide-books to all that is most worthy and beautiful in a wonderful and most fascinating country, we can have for them nothing but enthusiastic and grateful praise. No series yet issued has ever been so copiously illustrated, nor has been offered at so modest a price. ... It is impossible to study these volumes without catching something of the author’s enthusiasm for his subject, and we envy the reader who can undertake a tour of Spain in such company.” November 30th, 1907. “ Dublin Express.’ ’ “. . . The appearance of the new and important series of volumes which is at present being issued by Mr. J ohn Lane under the general title of * The Spanish Series,’ dealing with the various aspects of the country, its cities and public buildings and monuments, should appeal to a large section of the travelling public who tour Europe for pleasure and instruction combined. The series, which is carefully and admirably edited by Mr. Albert F. Calvert, is quite unique as regards its turn-out, the fulness of knowledge which each of the volumes displays, and the lavish number and highly artistic quality of the photogravure illustrations. . . . Books such as these are not only of value and interest to those who love travel, but will be a valuable addition to any well- chosen library.” December 30th, 1907. “ Dundee Advertiser.” “ A great work for Spain is being accomplished by the renowned traveller, Albert F. Calvert, through the publication of the magnificent volumes included in the Spanish Series. . . .” December 5 th, 1907. “ Morning Leader.” “. . . This Series is indispensable to students and amateurs. ... It is more instructive than many treatises on the medieval development of Spanish architecture; Any one of these volumes is a treasure-house of Spanish art. The whole series is a liberal education. They are a marvel of cheapness.” December 7th, 1907. “ Yorkshire Observer.” “ Mr. Calvert is making his Spanish Series of monographs a veritable encyclopaedia of the national history and the national art. . . .” February 21st, 1908. “ Argonaut ” (San Francisco) “. . . The Spanish Series is unique in its way, and perhaps the only com- prehensive attempt to unveil the artistic and architectural treasures of Spain. . .” February 1st, 1908. “ Yorkshire Daily Post.” “ These books are quite admirable in every way. They are so extra- ordinarily rich in illustration that they may be enjoyed by the fireside reader almost as much as when they companion the student and sightseer. . . .” May nth, 1907. “World.” “ Mr. A. F. Calvert’s Spanish Series will be heartily welcomed by all students of Spanish art, for it is not too much to say that never before has an attempt been made to present to the public so vast a number of reproductions from quite acceptable photographs of Spanish works of art at so low a price.” September 7th, 1907. 15 “ Liverpool Daily Courier.” “ Mr. Calvert, who is responsible for this curiously interesting series, is doing a remarkable work for Spain. ... He is a good, honest craftsman, with a fine enthusiasm for his subject, and he is content to set things before us in a straightforward way. His writing is always readable, so that the service he does in describing for us the treasures of Spain, and that nation’s great per- sonalities, is really very considerable. ...” July 5th, 1907. “ Aberdeen Free Press.” ft “. . . Mr. Calvert, the editor of the series, has long been 'a student of Spanish life and annals. He loves the country, and he is steeped in its history, and the letterpress which he has contributed to these volumes is informed with accurate and full knowledge. . . .” July 1 8 th, 1907. Daily News.” “. • . Lovers of Spain will be grateful to Mr. Calvert for the work he is doing in such volumes as these to provide a worthy monument of the greatness of its manifold appeals.” July 26th, 1907. “Journal” (Providence, P.A.) “ Such an attractive series of guide-books as that whichiMr. Calvert is giving us of Spain deserves the appreciation alike of those who would visit that fascinating country and those who are deprived of that pleasure, but may gain some idea of it from the pleasantly written text and the notable illustrations which each volume furnishes. . . . This series deserves a very high place among the books of the class.” September 29th, 1907. “ Daily News.” “ Every volume in the Spanish Series has taught us to expect a high standard of excellence from the editor, Mr. Albert F. Calvert. . . .” July 20 th, 1907. “ Sunday Times.” “ This is an extraordinarily cheap and attractive set of guide-books which Mr. A. F. Calvert is editing. This Spanish Series is an excellent idea, and it deserves the compliment of imitation.” July 7th, 1907. “ Belfast News-Letter.” “ The Spanish Series which Mr. Albert F. Calvert is so ably editing is, we believe, the first attempt that has ever been made to exhaustively illustrate any country. . . . For years he has been at work on his great project of illustrating Spain, and the collector who secures all the volumes in this country will certainly be in a position to see Spain steadily, and see it whole. It is claimed that these books comprise the most copiously illustrated series that has yet been issued, and that claim is more than justified in the volumes that have been already published.” April 30th, 1908. “ Baedeker’s Guide to Spain.” “ The inexpensive Spanish Series of volumes edited by A. F. Calvert, and now in course of publication in London, are useful for their very numerous photographic illustrations.” 1908. 16 ; / 2 - lb fo~H 4 I Qj GETTY CENTER LIBRARY MAIN ND 813 T5 C16 BKS c. 1 Calvert. Albert Fred El Greco; an account of his life and wor 3 3125 00365 0161