On Friday 07 November 2025, our series of lectures on the Golden Age of Spanish Art with Jennifer continued with a study of the work and life of El Greco.

El Greco needs to have his real name better known. Born in Candia (modern day Crete) in 1541 as Doménikos Theotokópoulos (Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος). At that time, Crete was part of the Venetian Empire, and that connection with Venice was used later in his life to allow him to work in Venice, then Rome, then Madrid and finally to Toledo where he worked for 37 years until his death in 1614. It was during his time in Rome that he met the son of the Dean of the Cathedral in Toledo, and it was that meeting that eased his transfer from Madrid to Toledo.

El Greco is described as a Mannerist Artist, with images often exaggerated and elongated, in twisted or contorted poses showing lots of movement and clashing colours. Jennifer showed us his early work on religious icons and triptychs, explaining the significance of often small features in the works.

Jennifer also showed his paintings of the city of Toledo – presumably whilst awaiting commissions – and had a series of modern photographs showing how many of the features in the paintings are still visible today. The commissions came, and El Greco painted many altar pieces and other works with strong religious themes. His faith was an unanswered question as he had been brought up in an Greek Orthodox home before starting his travels. We saw many portraits of leaders of the Roman Catholic faith who had been painted by him too.

We saw how his style and colouring has been reflected down the ages from the late 16th Century through to Picasso and Cezanne.

After a break for Teas and Coffees, we resumed for a quick run through of the life of Peter Paul Rubens who represented the Flemish Baroque tradition, with grand, opulent paintings showing plenty of flesh. clouds and swirling drapery. As a diplomat, he had many connections in many countries, and his studio had been responsible for the ceiling paintings in the Banqueting House in Whitehall. Nature, red in tooth and claw was also strongly represented in the examples chosen by Jennifer.

Our Golden Age of Spanish Art continues on 21 November 2025 with the works of Diego Velazquez.