El Greco

El Greco

The Agony In the Garden, a mannerist style of art by EL Greco, proclaims a sense of

spiritual power of religious faith which accomplishes El Greco’s aim to move his

audience. El Greco was born on the island of Crete and lived from 1541 to 1614. He

represented the most characteristic figure of Spanish Mannerism. El Greco was

influenced by and became acquainted with the art of Titian and Jacopo Bassano in Venice

where he studied in 1566. In addition to visiting Italy, El Greco made his way to Rome,

Parma and probably Florence. On his travels he became more familiar with the work of

Parmigianino and the work of Correggio. In El Greco’s use of form can be seen

Florentine Mannerism. Venetian Mannerism can be seen in the peculiar brilliance of his

coloring. The plans for the construction of the Escurial and the discussion of works of art being selected by Philip II, probably attracted El Greco to Spain. However, El Greco

failed to satisfy the Italianate tastes of the King. He lived virtually uninterruptedly in Toledo from 1575 on. In Toledo he formed friendships with men of advanced beliefs and

humanist interests. The monastic, from which his prime commitment came, were glad to

decorate their churches and cloisters with his elevated visionary paintings. El Greco

paintings bordered on a supernatural world of creative fantasy. Most of his paintings

survive in a number of copies painted in his own hand. El Greco’s studio which

employed a large number of assistants also produced many contrasts of his works.

People were very curious about his paintings with their unusual setting and flickering

impressiveness.

In The Agony In The Garden there are two planes displayed in the art work that

are disconnected by a few bare branches that contain fugitive leaves. The upper plane

consists of the vision of Christ set against a large rock with a few trees. Christ is kneelingin a reddish-purple robe, with hands stretched out toward the ground. He turns toward the floating angel who is painted in pearly greys. Behind the angel, on the left are spinning clouds. Preceding from an outline of an imaginary town, on the right, are

soldiers carrying flags. The inconceivable impression of the picture is due to the contrast of not only passionate and cerebral but in terms of colour- between the two planes and their figural content as w...

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...were able to

combine themselves in the melting pot of the European public and benefited most form

the prudent principles of their times. A Baroque painter even conserved his national

characteristics.

Baroque made use of characteristics of the Mannerist style by engaging and future

maturing them. There was more unity in Mannerist style’s outweighing ideas and more

variance in its forms of presentation. Classicism, however, was piercingly against

everything mutual to Mannerism and the Baroque. It condemned Mannerism in some

unstable terms, with all its integrity and corruption’s.

The Masters, such as El Greco were forgotten, but that taste in art could not be

hidden forever. Mannerist art came back to life after it had been dead for a few centuries. It fist came back to life with the discovery of El Greco and others.

Bibliography:

Bousquet, J. (1964). La Peinture manieriste. Neuchatel Haraszti-Takacs, Marianne. (1968).

The Masters of Mannerism. Corvina Press. Hauser, A. (1964).

Der Manierismus. Munich. Sherarman, J. (1967). Mannerism. London.

Wolf, R. and Millen, R. (1968). Renaissance and Mannerist Art. Harry N Abrams, Inc.