I am already used to the imposing sense of helplessness reemerging whenever I try to think up accolades for the masterpieces discussed on this website.The visual and technical grandeur of this painting (hanging in Toledo Cathedral, a magnificent Gothic monument — click here to see more explained photographs of Toledo Cathedral), described in numerous essays and books on El Greco (britannica full article), overwhelms, while the texts deal the final blow of futility. Blah…blah…blah. Let’s pretend I haven’t written anything yet and start afresh. The shocking red of the protagonist’s garment immediately forces the mood; color dominates the image unconditionally, with facial expressions following far behind, supplementing the psychological tension, and composition serving only a rudimentary purpose, as to not to interfere with the red solo. The latter’s explosive power is disproportionate to that of composition, marking palette as outright exotic and grotesque.
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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.
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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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