El Greco - Life & works of a great Greek

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, also known as El Greco, was a Greek artist of the Spanish Renaissance. He was a painter, a sculptor, as well as an architect. His signature was "Domenikos Theotokopoulos of Crete", in Greek letters. He was born in the Venetian Kingdom of Candia, which was basically Crete, in 1541. He came from a rich Greek family, and his father was a merchant

He practiced his arts in Greece. Like many Greeks at the time, he moved to Venice when he was 26. He was an expressionist and his art was a mixture of Byzantine Greek and western art. In 1577 he migrated to Madrid, Spain, where he created most of his paintings. Here are some great examples of his work:

The Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1600)

Christ blessing (The Saviour of the World) (1600)

View of Toledo (c. 1599)

Laocoon (Laocoonte) (1610 - 1614)

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

El Expolio