Stylistic divergence parallels the emotional one. The piece you see below is evidently realistic; it exploits the little light there is to create a rather anemic pattern (apparently the cow’s shadow) on the ground, while the darker details (particularly in the background) receive strained attention — shadow is king, light is only the page. The artist makes a virtue out of necessity and veers towards realism where impressionism would suffocate due to lack of natural illumination. The other two works, however, can be categorized as impressionistic with nearly the same certainty. Light dethrones shade, which recedes into the hangar’s belly or disappears altogether, and adds characteristic distortions: amplifies close subjects and misshapes them slightly into somewhat generalized types.

It’s interesting how the rural environment, though including a fence, seems compact yet welcoming, as opposed to the vast industrial spaces, which nevertheless cast a claustrophobic sense of no escape. The animal stands undisturbed where grass grows under its hooves, but is constantly on the move — as if on a production line — in enclosed settings. Indeed, the freedom of choice of feed, one of the few liberties domesticated animals may have, appears to have been denied of the animals in industrial farms. Perhaps the random patterns on the cows’ skins may be seen as a protest; a chaotic antidote to the mechanical horizontal and vertical lines of the fences and the supporting pillars.

I think that in these paintings the artist probes into the basic instinct of freedom, common to all animals, including humans. The wide areas with overhanging metal and wood restrict the inhabitants from all directions, and our instinctive reaction of shrinking back when looking (or visiting) can be explained simply: we would not want to live there. We don’t ask the cows… but maybe they can provide some food — for thought too?

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View of Toledo, circa 159… Buy From Art.com

The greenery in the foreground provides an antidote to the urban setting, albeit due to the dark mood it is difficult to define it as “pastoral.” Still, the artist efficiently presents the dichotomy of nature and an inhabited locality, and carries through the rich idea of wilderness both tamed and intimidating. Venturing outside the city walls seems like a daunting task, but a possible one, and, once again, a tempting one. Another recurring motif, technical this time, comes to mind: the lower parts of the painting exhibit remarkable accuracy and precision, the architecture and the wild growth being rendered realistically, whereas the upper part displays chaos and fantastical confusion. Randomly scattered blots of color defy the order below. Brush stroke grow bolder and wider; it appears that the artist uses these white patches as a palette, drawing color out of them to produce a ghastly whitish veil.

The Tempest, Gallerie Del… Buy From Art.com

I want to suggest an interesting comparison. Giorgione’s The Tempest, (hanging in Gallerie Dell’Accademia, Venice — only in Italian) contains exactly the same set of features. There is the thundercloud and lightning, a city, and a creek below. The Venetian’s painting is still considered enigmatic, for many reasons that are not the theme of this review (Britannica full article about Giorgione).There is one thing that distinguishes it from El Greco’s piece: the man and the woman on both sides of the river. Simply by eliminating the similar features, we may arrive at the notion that either of the paintings — or both — deal with the female and male principle; with masculinity and femininity as the two opposites that charge our life with so much electricity, and which may imply countless variations on the theme of order and chaos. That El Greco studied in Venice may prove this comparison quite reasonable.

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St. Martin and the Beggar Buy From Art.com

Though it is obviously the physical weight and the shape of the armor that impedes the saint in his task, a broader symbolic interpretation suggests itself: the rich, secular and earthly (the ore used for making the plates literally being extracted from the ground) garments interfere with one’s progression towards holiness, as, for instance, was exemplified by St. Francis. Correspondingly, the protagonist is indeed depicted in the process of shedding his garb, cutting off a part of his robe in order to give it away to the naked beggar. The violence of the act clashes with the serene humility of the actors, generating electrifying atmosphere — the city of Toledo, depicted in the background, serves as the ground connection for this cycle, linking the two abstracts to a particular locale and providing an essential counterbalance.

View of Toledo, circa 159… Buy From Art.com

The blue sky enframing the figures resembles very much a liquid threatening to drown everything in an engulfing cascade. It comes to mind that perhaps this is what the horse so urgently senses — animals being very in tune with upcoming changes in nature. Regardless, the cold (and to my mind somewhat repelling) hue creates a portending sense of uneasiness and unresolved tension, and even the blazing white color of the ungulate forces us to look away — or concentrate on the vision before us by overcoming emotional distress and making some sort of a spiritual achievement. In a way, this is a very personal communication of the artist’s faith, so intimate, it is difficult to continuously witness. Though it is clear what is about to happen in terms of action, the multitude of unfinished and impending things in terms of composition and palette casts an overwhelming sense of mystery and uncertainty — making this canvas a mesmerizing piece of art.

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The Burial of Count Orgaz… Buy From Art.com

Though I am only familiar with Spanish physiognomy from literary descriptions and television, I believe that El Greco tapped into the basic pattern of facial features of people inhabiting the peninsula. Inherently pale and dark-haired, the men depicted at the gathering look characteristically Spanish; it’s difficult to determine whether the melancholia is another intrinsic quality, or simply one emanating as the naturally resulting mood of the sombre event. The artist endows his actors with local physical peculiarities — this is a normally accepted strategy, perfected by Michelangelo, who used quarry workers as models for his sculptures and paintings. Viewers would recognize the type and connect more willingly with the image. In fact, the only obvious factor linking both scenes is the physical similarity: both saints and mortals possess resembling features.

The Burial of Count Orgaz… Buy From Art.com

The broadness and scope of the ethereal part of the painting reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch’s large scale portrayals of heaven and hell. El Greco’s rendering similarly contains numerous independent activities that cohere harmoniously into a unified devotional vision. Bosch’s wild imagination has led him to somatic inventions, but of a kind that differed stylistically from those of the south-European: where the former preferred to transplant inanimate mechanical objects, the latter elongated the flesh of his painted subjects, making their torsos and limbs exceptionally mannerist — and beyond. I think that eventually there are two paintings on this canvas (read this Wikipedia article about the piece), and the joining is optional. The overall size (460 × 360 cm) plays the crucial dividing role: it is simply impossible to visually encompass everything, and the viewer will tend to observe the piece in line with the preordained separation.

Self Portrait, Detail fro… Buy From Art.com

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Holy Family, Madonna Feed… Buy From Art.com

The third thing was the gradation of skin tones. Every face has its own distinctive shade; together they create a coordinated rhythm of color, further underlined by similar distribution of hue intensity of the robes. The darker the face, the darker the garment. Perhaps the purpose of the gradation was to suggest an hierarchy between the saints on the canvas. There is another interesting feature: the eyes are all blackened, as if masked in deep shadow. This choice of palette contributes to the sense of mystery, as we stand unable to decipher the innermost feelings of the saints from their eyes. In fact, pockets of black scattered throughout the image secretly impose an atmosphere of tension, enigma and vagueness. The colder blue and white of the sky balance it only to some degree, as the violent opposition of reds and yellows with the black sets the principal tone.

Holy Family with Saint Anne Buy From Art.com

The composition also offers a series of clashes. There are several imaginary perpendicular angles (the fourth thing): between the head of St. Joseph and the baby’s body, between his arm and his foot, St. Anne’s head and the baby, the latter and Madonna’s breast, his miniature hand and her long, scissor-like fingers (intersecting only slightly off the center of the piece). Mary’s head, in another characteristically Raphaelian tilt, becomes the central axis of the configuration; in a superb harmony of design, the compositional device unites with the notional Christian concept. Despite the general two dimensional setting, foreshortened faces add just the amount of perspective and depth needed for the beholder to perceive the image relatively easily. Still the, the setting is evidently abstract and forces the viewer to higher realms of imagination and fancy. That was the fifth, though probably not the last, thing I noticed about this painting.

Holy Family with Saint Anne Buy From Art.com

Holy Family with Saint Anne Buy From Art.com

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The Disrobing of Christ, … Buy From Art.com

But that is not to say that composition is somehow ineffective. On the contrary, it interweaves harmoniously with the main concept of color, as a sort of adornment, or mounting (the rest literally encircle Christ) — and some may find such role designation difficult to comprehend (one interesting example would be the inquisition, which even jailed the artist for putting Christ in the center, instead of high above his tormentors). The effectiveness of the composition in this case equals a reduction of sorts. It is known that color appeals to the psychic perception, whereas composition and arrangement addresses the intellectual core. Perhaps the latter is irrelevant here: the central role of palette suggests that emotional response is more adequate than any mental processing. El Greco’s preference of unblended hues also indicates his aiming at the most primal emotions.

The Disrobing of Christ, 1577-1579 Buy From Art.com

Facial expressions, particularly that of Christ himself, complements the tragic atmosphere. His countenance is unusually serene in the midst of a bustle, the white complexion already radiating the divine light of sainthood — either of inner or outer source. The haughty, mocking physiognomy of the guard wearing the green robe, transported here along with some other biblical contemporaries, in the painterly tradition of combining the historical with the modern, is a direct opposite. Shadow covers his face, implying on the darkness of the force that moves him. The foreshortened worker in the yellow, below, appears fully engrossed in his morbid task, while the two females (the two Marys?) in the lower left part observe in apprehension. Finally, the armored man to Christ’s right, gazing in melancholia at the viewer, and the two nearly mad offenders behind them describe the emotional scope of the picture from one end to another.

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Sistine Madonna, Painted … Buy From Art.com

Raphael (read this Britannica article on the artist) includes two little angels as a comic relief to the grave scene, in the best of theatrical traditions. These two seem ungainly in comparison to the Madonna’s stately posture, but not repulsive: on the contrary, they appeal to the viewer in a sympathetic, familiar way (the reason for their incredible popularity, even separately from the Madonna), facilitating contact with the rest of the image. The humility of the saints becomes the next preparatory psychological step to be taken in order to confront Madonna herself — for she is truly formidable here, unlike Raphael’s usual depiction. She looks straight forward and down at the viewer, self-conscious and ecstatic, mystical and tragic, qualities underlined by the eerie light surrounding her frame.(Perhaps there is some similarity to Correggio’s use of light, or vice-versa.)

Detail of the Sistine Madonna, c.1514 Buy From Art.com

Christ’s expression is polar to that of the resting angels. He looks apprehensive, his eyes and pose betraying an almost adult awareness and seriousness. While the lower babes display boredom and impatience, Christ appears caught in the moment, aware of its significance for himself, in the future, and for the devout, in the present. In fact, he may be returning the gaze here, reflecting that of the viewers’ and deliberately engaging them. All of the mentioned qualities endow the painting with unprecedented intensity. The clarity of the composition (the symmetrical arrangement of the actors) and the modest but strategical use of color make the tension even more lucid and almost palpable, almost unbearable I would say. This is a stark departure from the artist’s previous tame versions, and it signals a shift towards more complex psychological interpretations.

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The Esterhazy Madonna Buy From Art.com

The backs of two of the actors turn ostensibly towards the ancient past, baby Christ being protected by Mary’s frame. This immanent gesture identifies the spiritual clerical perception of the devout beholder: deny and leave the heresy behind and fully accept the holy figures in front of you as the only true divinities and saints. Once again, Mary’s head unequivocally crowns the entire composition, as if to reaffirm her ultimate precedence over other religious heads, in both meanings of the word. There is another interesting observation to be made — she, as a woman, represents the continuation of life, in this case, the life of the Catholic faith. We witness her “fertility” in the form of two small children, playing busily beside her; the dilapidated, colorless structure behind her represents the sterility and inevitable degeneration. The painting becomes a playground for a theological dispute.

Sistine Madonna, Painted … Buy From Art.com

Conceptually, this is an even more demanding piece. Raphael imports extraneous cultural elements, sets them off against Catholic religious characters and prompts the beholder to conduct the synthesis. Though the artist guides the viewers with palette, giving only the Madonna a fully colored outfit, the complexity of the overall design is undeniable. Additionally, a strange air of mystery transpires from the painterly surface; it could be the haunting blue of the sky, or the monotonous, light brown of the hills, encircling and perhaps threatening the main event. There is an air of notional abstraction, akin to that emanating from da Vinci’s Gioconda — it could be the result of the combination between the particular central images and the distant, both physically and psychologically background. And as it often happens, the mystery only adds to the appeal of the piece as a whole.

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Madonna with a Fish (In t… Buy From Art.com

If we go back to the formal — and imposing — element, I think it undermines the narrative by side-stepping, and consequently weakening it. This judgment makes more sense in comparison to later, more loose and original portrayals of evangelic narratives, performed, for instance, by Caravaggio — but this is an anachronism. In contemporary milieu of existing artistic norms, this rendering manifests perfection that we are accustomed to expect from the master. He did not innovate here, but he elevated the formula to the highest, possibly unprecedented level of execution, both in technical and psychological dramatic terms. The pairing of the angel guiding Tobias reflects some of the sweetness in the interaction between Madonna and baby Christ, both children, embraced by the divine figures, extending hands, though the former with notable assistance.

The Esterhazy Madonna Buy From Art.com

The very clean composition accords harmoniously with the palette: the lower parts of the painting are rather vacant, and the colors are correspondingly desaturated; the higher we look, the more the color gains in intensity and tone. The richness of the curtain is almost opposite to the pallid stand before the throne. These features combined can be viewed as a painterly idiom for religious purification and awareness, starting below, slow and from scratch towards loftier realms of sacrifice, up to martyrdom (Christ) and heaven (Mary, later crowned the queen of heaven). Thus the bare stand serves as an invitation for the devout viewer to commence on a spiritual journey, much like the youth holding the fish did. Admirable is the lack of hysteria and the subtlety of the call for action, reflected in the tame and ruminative expression of the lion. Raphael confidently endows surrounding subjects with that remarkable sense of calm and composure that characterize all of his Madonnas.

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Madonna on the Meadow, 15… Buy From Art.com

I think that this pastoral variant demonstrates more life, more blood and bone, if you will. The three actors literally have the chance to breathe and the children respond to their surroundings by engaging in some kind of a game, of religious symbolical meaning nevertheless. John kneels before baby Christ, simultaneously imitating a blessing with the cross, a foreshadow of what was to come (fundamental Renaissance artistic device). The intimidating landscape adds a touch of immediacy that finds a way out in the vague smile of the Madonna. Her nearly imperceptible frowning annuls that sign of content, and together they are synthesized into a thin but constant and unsettling sense of disconcertment, which comes to dominate the painting. Only the woman’s face conveys both the carelessness of the present and the torment of the future — and it makes perfect compositional sense that her head, surrounded by the heavens, presides over the land and sea.

Madonna with a Fish (In t… Buy From Art.com

Three levels of color cohere into a complex, but clear-cut, classic pyramidal composition: the bleak background, Madonna’s bright dress and the nearly white skin of the babies. It seems that there is no precedence, and each palette level deserves the same degree of attention — what the background lacks in color it compensates for with scope. Thus, besides the religious meaning, we are presented with the universal concept of birth, maturation, and death. The ground would conceal the remains, hinting at the vacuum left by them with its bareness. To sum up, this image substitutes therapeutic qualities manifested in Madonna del Granduca with vibrant, life affirming characteristics, being more psychologically demanding. A broader, thematically more comprehensive piece, it immerses the viewers in the multiplicity of mental and devotional experiences, being at once more spiritually realistic and challenging.

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