Art History: BVA 312 - 11/03/2019 (Presentation of El Greco and Velazquez)

Presentation on Velasquez and El Greco

The Spanish Artists

Spain during the 16th Century 

•Spain became a world power with possessions and sources of wealth in the New World.

•Religious painting remains spiritless.

•The great battle of religious beliefs of the Spanish King who come to regard themselves as the champions and main bulwark of Christianity  against the Moslems in Spain. 

El Greco (Davies, 1976) – 16th century [1541-1614]

•Domenikos Theotokopoulos/ The Greek

•Born in 1541 in Crete, the colony of the Republic of Venice.

•Was trained as a Byzantine icon painter in the High Renaissance, but his style was too modern.

•Trained as an icon painter, moved to Venice (Titian) and later to Rome. The late 1570s settled in Toledo, Spain (more Mannerist).

•Focused on Religious Painting, shows spirit and expression.

Reject of naturalism, making him a minor painter during the 17th and 18th century. During the 19th century, the modernist like Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso

The Burial of Count Orgaz (Kilroy-Ewbank, n.d.)

•15 feet high and depicts numerous figures in addition to the miraculous circumstances surrounding the burial of Don Gonzalo Ruiz, a lord who lived on the outskirts of Toledo in the early 1300s

•The  painting is separated into 2 sections, below represent the here on Earth above represent Heaven.

•Christ, the Count’s soul and the Count’s body are all placed on the same vertical axis, underlining the idea that Gonzalo’s earthly charity led directly to his heavenly reward.

•Few of their faces was El Greco’s contemporary, Andres Nunez de Madrid and his son , Jorge Manuel. 

 Why was the contribution restored? 

•In 1566 the priest of Santo Tomé, Andrés Núñez de Madrid, sued the village of Orgaz to have payments reinstated.

•Nunez commissioned the painting from El Greco in 1586

Here the message seems to be, “Look at the Count of Orgaz, whose gifts to the church paved his path to heaven. You villagers should be grateful that he commanded you to follow his example by making annual payments to the church, because in this way you will also receive divine favor.".

What is the painting all about?  

•In the town of Orgaz used to ruled by Lord Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo. Before he passed away, he mandated that every year the village of Orgaz had to make a certain amount of contribution to the church but in 1564 they stopped.

•In the early 1520s, the villagers had supported Comuneros and lingered into the 1560s. Another factor may have the Protestant Reformation

•Martin Luther ‘s split with the Catholic church centered on the idea that faith om God alone (not giving money to the church was the only way to attain divine in the afterlife).

At the time there was little separation between the Catholic Church and the Spanish monarchy. Belief in Catholic dogmas, including the importance of charitable donations in securing salvation of the soul, was almost law. The Inquisition could jail you if you were overheard professing alternate beliefs.

 (loaded brush, 2017)

Velazquez  (Larson, 1986 ) – 1599-1660
•Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez

•The most admired European painter who ever lived.

•His portrait painting captures the the appearance of reality through the seemingly effortless handlings of sensuous paint.

•Born in Seville, son of a lawyer.

•6 years apprenticeship in 1611 with Francisco Pacheco (also a friend of El Greco)

•Influenced by the naturalism of Caravaggio.

•In 1623, he was summoned to Madrid to paint a portrait of the king [Philip IV (1605–1665)], his success led to his being named official painter to the king.

•Velazquez was profoundly influenced by Venetian paintings in Madrid. There he was inspired by Peter Paul Rubens

•He was granted an excursion to Italy. There he learned more about space and depth

•His Innocent X was amazed in Rome.

 (Fahy, 2009)

Painting of Las Meninas (1656)

•His largest painting clearly depicts an uncanny reality within our life and the painting.

•A painting of the infant princess and others who were mostly identified as court servants, The artist himself working the painting, and reflections of the King and Queen.

•Velazquez inhabits a space merge of aerial and laws of scientific perspective, light source plays an important role in conducting the space.

• The composition represents everything. He depicts a pause on everyone when the King and Queen enter the room.

Las Meninas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKRKrpz09Fk

He is fascinated to depict normal day routine of commoners like how Caravaggio composite his work and stage commoners in his painting

Gives life to paint by capturing expression and characteristic

Real physical present 

He leaves it open to the viewers face. Letting them construct some scene of present

He didn’t pay much attention to details, all brush strokes were quicky painted through. Quite like impressionist

* The spinners

Picasso and El Greco 

Las Meninas, after Velazquez (1957) by Pablo Picasso

References:

Davies, D. (1976). El Greco . Oxford : Phaidon .

Fahy, E. (2009, September ). Velazquez (1599-1660. Retrieved from The Met: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vela/hd_vela.htm

Farago, J. (2014, August 26). El Greco: A modern artist in the 16th century . Retrieved from BBC: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140826-the-time-travelling-painter

Kilroy-Ewbank, L. (n.d.). El Greco, Burial of the Count Orgaz. Retrieved from Khan Academy : https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/renaissance-in-spain/a/el-greco-burial-of-the-count-orgaz

Larson, D. M. (1986 ). Studying with the masters: lessons from Rubens, Turner, Degas, Monet Sargent, Matisse . New York : Watson-Guptill .

Las Meninas. (n.d.). Retrieved from Museo. del prado 200 años: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/las-meninas/9fdc7800-9ade-48b0-ab8b-edee94ea877f

loaded brush . (2017, June 21). How El Greco's Masterpiece is a ctually about a Priest throwing shade on a bumch of peasants . Retrieved from Essays: https://www.aloadedbrush.com/how-el-grecos-masterpiece-is-actually-about-a-priest-throwing-shade-on-a-bunch-of-peasants/

Segura, E. (2016, December 30). El Greco and Velazquez: Pablo Picasso's Early Inspiration. Retrieved from Culture Trip : https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/el-greco-and-velazquez-pablo-picassos-early-inspiration/