El Greco's masterpiece emerging from the courtroom: Burial of the Count Orgaz

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the spring of 1586, El Greco began work on a painting depicting the funeral of the pious count. The plot is unusual, gloomy (in the spirit of El Greco), and the deceased is the count who lived three centuries before the artist. The most interesting thing is that the artist received his monumental order after a court decision …

El Greco was born and raised in Crete and was educated as a Byzantine icon painter. At twenty-six, he left for Venice, where he worked in the workshop of Titian and was under the influence of Tintoretto. He later moved to Spain and settled in Toledo to serve as court painter to King Philip II of Spain. He lived there until his death in 1614. Many contemporaries said about El Greco: "Crete gave him life, and Toledo - brushes …". It was in this city that the plot of one of the most recognizable and often reproduced paintings in the world originated.

A masterpiece from the court: how did the plot come about?

Gonzalo de Ruiz, lord of the city of Orgaz (Toledo), died in 1323 after living a righteous life. The count became famous for his generous charitable gifts to the Church. There is a legend that such merciful deeds were rewarded to him from above. During his funeral, Saints Stephen and Augustine, with their own hands, lowered Gonzalo's body into the grave in front of the blinded eyes of those present. It was this plot that formed the basis for one of the most famous paintings by El Greco "The Burial of Count Orgaz".

The plot of the picture and the contract with El Greco

And now the readers will surely have a question: where did the plot of the 14th century, which never served as a subject of painting, was suddenly commissioned by El Greco at the end of the 16th century? The trial forced me to recall this story. Gonzalo de Ruiz bequeathed to the church of Santo Tome in Toledo, where he was buried, an annual rent, which was to be paid to the inhabitants of Orgaz. However, in the city of Ruiz, the count's pious contributions were forgotten. The rector of the Church of Santo Tome, Andres Nunez, went to court and, having won the case, decided to use some of the new income to decorate the chapel, where Señor Orgaz was buried. Two years later, the abbot signed an agreement with El Greco to create an altarpiece. Signed on March 18, 1586, an agreement between Nunez and El Greco established specific iconographic requirements for the creation of the painting. In the contract, the images and details of the plot were very clearly spelled out, which were to be reflected on the canvas. It was even indicated that one of the saints should hold his head, and the other - the legs of the late Gonzalo. And there must be a lot of spectators around this process.

The result of the artist's work

El Greco coped with this task masterfully, working on the painting for 2 years. The result was an exceptionally large canvas, the artist reflected all the details literally and exactly according to the contract. The canvas is very clearly divided into two compositionally single parts: the earthly part (the process of burial with the saints) and the heavenly part (heavenly glory). The plot of the miraculous event is also mentioned in the inscription on the Latin epitaph, installed on the wall under the painting. This was followed by long disputes between the priests and the artist over the cost of the latter's work. It was agreed that the cost would be based on expert judgment. Initially irreconcilable and disagreeing with the price, Greco eventually compromised and agreed to a lower peer review (R $ 13,200).

The heroes of the canvas

The canvas is compositionally divided into two kingdoms: earthly and heavenly. El Greco's way of portraying differs between the two worlds. In the upper heavenly realm, the artist used a softer brush to give the figures a more ephemeral and dynamic quality. A colder and more iridescent palette of colors was used. The lower half of the canvas has a dark, earthy palette (except for Saints Stephen and Augustine), which gives this world a more naturalistic look.

The kingdom of paradise covers the upper half of the composition. There are many figures here, including angels and saints - David with a harp, Peter with keys, John the Baptist with a skin, Virgin Mary and Jesus. King Philip II of Spain and Pope Sixtus V are also seen in this heavenly kingdom.

Between Mary and Christ, an angel is depicted who sends the little soul of Count Orgaz to heaven - a gesture usually found on Byzantine icons. The men, dressed in black robes with red crosses, belonged to the Order of Santiago (St. James the Great), an elite military-religious order, and the client is the parish priest of Santo Tome Andres Nunez, who initiated the project to restore the count's chapel. He is depicted in the process of reading (in the lower right part of the composition).

The boy on the left is El Greco's son, Jorge Manuel. On a handkerchief in his pocket is engraved the artist's signature and the date 1578, the year of the boy's birth. The inclusion of Jorge Manuel emphasizes the didactic purpose of the painting: the boy takes a prominent position, directing the viewer's gaze with his index finger to the main object of the painting. Next to the boy is St. Stephen. His vestments of the saint are so detailed that we even see a scene of his martyrdom on the lower edge of the mantle. The artist himself can be recognized right above the raised hand of the knight of Santiago.

When viewers look at the picture, it is likely that they are wondering why El Greco included so many unremarkable faces in the picture, ostensibly focused on the wonderful story of the Count Orgaz? The answer can be found in the very contract of 1586, which provided for the inclusion of many portraits, indicating that they all witnessed a miracle. El Greco brilliantly coped with this task, including both saints and historical figures in the picture.

Although the heavenly and earthly kingdoms are separate, El Greco ties them together to create a single composition. Staffs and torches, held by people on the ground, are directed upward, crossing the threshold between heaven and earth. The characters also look up to the heavens, prompting the audience to look up too.

The middle and late 16th century was the era of the Counter-Reformation, when the city of Toledo was an unshakable stronghold of the Catholic Christian world. El Greco's painting, depicting saints in both the earthly and heavenly kingdoms, strongly confirms the spirit of the counter-reformation, and perfectly reflects El Greco's ability to connect the mystical and the spiritual with the life around him.