El Greco at the National Gallery

Interesting display at the National Gallery bringing together their El Greco’s to mark the loan of a Crucifixion with two donors from the Louvre.

The show included a good cross section of his career works for a small learned audience, to small devotional pieces and the great altar piece.   I’m never quite sure if I like El Greco! Some of the work like this altar piece is exquisite but I am not so sure about the religious works with elongated figures like “Christ driving traders from the Temple” shown here. I think I need to know more.

It was lovely to see this Crucifixion which falls into the great Spanish genre of long thin studies of Christ on the cross with dark backgrounds. This one is unusual in adding donors and there are beautifully painted figures. The figure on the left wears the finest thin vestment and the lace on the collar of the other figure is beautifully rendered. 

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