El Greco
Although El Greco is best known for his paintings, El Greco changed the world with his unique religious works, mythological works and sculptures. El Greco is the greatest Renaissance artist because of his thinking-out-of-the-box style of art and different view on art than other artists.
El Greco was born in an unknown city of Crete in the year of 1541. El Greco's real and full birth name is Doménikos Theotokópoulos. His nickname, El Greco, comes from where he was born, Crete. He signed all of his paintings with his nickname which translates to "The Greek". This was suspected to be given to him by his fellow citizens because of where he was born. El Greco spoke Spanish and Greek, which helped his art to be understood. Even though El Greco is ultimately one of the greatest and most influential artists of his time, he had no known formal training in art. El Greco studied under Titian and others like Tintoretto and Michelangelo who influenced his art along with his birthplace and the current post-byzantine era art styles (getty). It is possible that El Greco had a wife, Jeronima de las Cuevas, a woman who lived with him. While they were probably not a married couple, they did have a child together, Jorge Manvel, who later followed in his father's footsteps and became a painter.
El Greco was one of the first artists of his era to use the art style, Mannerism. Mannerism is a 16th style of art where the artist uses (in their art) elongated fingers, loosely free brushwork, expressive lighting, and smart color choices (dictionary). El Greco was a forerunner in Mannerism because
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many fellow artists never attempted this style. El Greco's art style shows the strong, deep Catholic faith of Spain, which can be see...
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...667, El Greco received many major commissions which boosted his popularity among many people. El Greco was heavily influenced by the fine churchmen and influential members of Toledan society and God when creating his religious masterpieces (artic).
El Greco was one of the most influential artists in the late Renaissance through his techniques, styles, and views on art. Using his skills he learned, he changed the art world through mannerism, cubism and expressionism as well as his different views and visions which greatly changed the world of art.
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Works Cited
"El Greco." Artble. n.p. Web. 29 March 2014
"El Greco." The Getty. n.p, n.d. Web. 25 March 2014
Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. New York: Scribner, 1999. Print.
Peopling of the World. General, 2010. Print.
"The Assumption of the Virgin."Art Institute of Chicago. n.p. Web. 30 March 2014.
Juan Gris, a Spanish-born painter, made important contributions to the modern style of painting called Cubism. GrisÕs paintings were always depicting his immediate surroundings. He painted still lives composed of simple, everyday objects, portraits of friends, and occasionally landscapes or cityscapes. The objects in his paintings and collages are more clearly defined and richly colored than those in the works of the earlier cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most famous artists during the time of the Renaissance, The Mona Lisa for example, was a painting created between 1503 and 1506, it is the most famous painting ever painted. It is a portrait of the young wife of a Florentine silk merchant. It shows a young woman with her famous smile sitting on a balcony high above a landscape.
Albrecht Durer is known as one of the most gifted painters and engravers of the German Renaissance period. His works are known throughout the world and have inspired artists to not only study and learn his techniques but also to broaden his techniques, expanding his already famous style.
He aimed to show that Renaissance thinkers matched the ancients and his own artistic genius, along with that of such greats as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, led to this period being dubbed the High Renaissance. Certainly, the greatest philosophers of the Renaissance were in fact its artists. The School of Athens would become the leading “example for the philosophy of the Renaissance (Radke 347).” Raphael’s artistic brilliance would inspire the next style of artist such as; Mariotto Albertinelli, Nicolas Poussin, Bernard van Orley and a great deal more. For a thousand years the School of Athens has served as a basic “principle of faith for the Christian Church (Radke 347).” From the Renaissance on, it would provide a sense of inspiration for Christian to examine the natural world around them in order to discover the great design of the Creator. Though many years’ younger than his counterparts, Raphael’s The School of Athens would catapult him as one of the elite painters of his generation, singlehandedly make this his one true
Velázquez was considered to be one of the most unique painters in the Spanish Baroque era. The phrase “Truth, not reality” is often used to describe his paintings, because Velázquez paintings usually display lifeline sense of the essential qualities of people and things that they seem to exist (Carr 26). Most of his painting’s subjects were the Spanish Royal family, however Velázquez occasionally painted historical scenes and paintings with...
Leonardo Da Vinci could be argued as one of the most famous persons in the Renaissance Era and one of the greatest painters to ever live. Leonardo is talented and has made many contribution throught his life. He did so many things such as painting, anatomy , mechanics, and architecture. And he is one of the reasons why the Renaissance era could be regarded at one of the greatest time periods in history.
...edium; this led to his mastery of creating an altarpiece that was able to reconstruct the Early Renaissance into a painting. His meticulous placement of figures and attention to the miniscule details reflected his success as a painter that was able to turn the unpaintable, infinite reality into a finite piece of work.
While in Venice, he studied under the well-known painter Titian. From Titian, he learned the fundamentals of Renaissance art. Around 1576 he decided to move to Toledo, Spain where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Here is where he painted View of Toledo, which is considered the first landscape in Spanish art. I think this ominous representation of the city of Toledo displays the power of nature. It is as the sky could open up at any moment and destroy the ghost like city below. It is suggested that El Greco might have painted this landscape as part of a propaganda campaign to encourage Philip II to reinstate the court in Toledo after he abandoned it in 1561 (Piker). Mannerism style stepped away from the traditional aspects of Renaissance art. “Mannerist art represents tension and angst, opposed to the peacefulness of Renaissance art” (Cowie). Some also say this painting is meant to show an apocalyptic vision. “This is a landscape of heavenly apocalyptic power: a conversation between heaven and earth next to the cathedral spire. The scene of the town takes place at the moment before a storm. The heavens are literally at war with the setting sun against the thunderstorm that is about to happen” (El Greco).
Michelangelo Buonarroti is arguably one of the most inspired creators in the history of art and the most potent force in the Italian High Renaissance. As a sculptor, architect, painter, and poet, he exerted a tremendous influence on his contemporaries and on subsequent Western art in general.
Traditionally in past centuries, Florentine artists painted images to be an identical copy of real world—an approach that is essential in the Renaissance Era between the late 1300’s to the late 1500’s. Renaissance artists used linear perspective and precise anatomical structures to perfect what humans see with their eyes. Pontormo still lived during the late period of the Renaissance, yet did not perfectly resemble their work; instead, his artwork, more specifically The Entombment of Christ, was coined as “the poster child of mannerism”. To accurately describe mannerism, one can refer to Pontormo’s altarpiece. Upon first
El Greco’s Italian background, specifically Venetian, is prominent in his use of contrasting colors, especially when compared to other artists of the same school such as Titian. Both Titian and El Greco focus on color rather than line, as demonstrated in Titian’s Charles V on
El Greco was very proud of his Greek culture and heritage. El Greco always signed his works in his full name and with Greek characters. His real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos and when he signed his works this was the name he used. All of El Greco’s works were in the “Venetian Renaissance Style” of painting.
Giotto di Bondone is taken into consideration one of the amazing artists of the Renaissance. His paintings reflect numerous of the Renaissance values. Giotto used Classicism, Realism, and Individualism. Classicism shows emphasis on form, simplicity, share, and reticence. Its ideas come from mythology and ancient Greece.
Doménikos Theotokópoulos is a very famous Greek painter from the late 1500’s. He is also known as El Greco, which is spanish for the greek. El Greco was born in the year 1541. His father Georgios was a tax collector and his older brother Manoússos was a merchant. There is no found information on his mother.
Mannerism was a period based the value of idealisation of beauty over the classical idea of 'truth to nature '. The more emphasised responses to this ideal of Mannerism are shown in the late works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Tintoretto and El Greco. These artists were known to do robust physiques and body statures that were emphasised in muscular tone and an almost heroic stance of figure. Other artists though showed a more refined approach to this style such as Agnolo Bronzino, Parmigianino and Jacopo Pontormo.