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Domenikos Theotokopoulos
(El Greco), 1610
A hand-written annotation to a book, found in Spain in a copy of Lives of the most
excellent architects, painters and sculptors by Giorgio Vasari, has led Nicos
Hadjinicolau, a researcher from the Institute of Mediterranean Studies, to conclude
that the artist – contrary to popular belief– was a defender of Byzantine art. A literal
translation of the note attributed to the painter reads: “If [Vasari] really knew the
nature of the Greek style of which he speaks, he would deal with it differently in what
he says. He compares it with Giotto, but what Giotto did is simple in comparison,
because the Greek style is full of ingenious difficulties.”
El Greco obtained the book from which this annotation was taken during Italian
painter Federico Zuccaro’s visit to Toledo in May 1586.
Nicos Hadjinicolau. La defensa del arte Bizantino por El Greco: notas sobre una
paradoja. Archivo Español de Arte, LXXXI (323) 217-232, Julio- Septiembre 2008.
Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco),
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
1586-88
Oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm
Santo Tomé, Toledo
Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, detail
Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, detail
Torcello Cathedral,
12th century
Monastery of Chora,
Istanbul, 14th century
Novgorod,
15th century
Voronet, 16th century
Tiziano Vecellio,1516
Tiziano Vecellio, 1566
Byzantine,
12th century
Michael and Eutychius, Church
of Theotokos Peribleptos now
St. Clement, Kurbinovo, Ohrid,
Macedonia, 1295
Crete, 15th century
Russia,
16th century
Byzantine,
14th century
Kastoria,
Greece, c.1400
Cyprus, Nicosia, Ayii Katherini
Chapel in Pyrga, 1421