The Nobleman With his Hand on his Chest (El caballero de la mano en el pecho)
1580
Mannerism
Oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
“The Nobleman With his Hand on his Chest” depicts an unknown nobleman or knight of about 30 years old. He is dressed in traditional Spanish attire holding a sword in one hand while the other is poised across his heart. He stares intensely out of the painting at the viewer in a manner that is profound in its realism yet also imaginative. El Greco’s work possesses technically accurate features such as the beard combined with his own stylized elements of elongated fingers and torso. The white ruffles contrast with the muted dark colours of El Greco’s palette which he uses to create emotional and psychological depths to define the subject.
El Greco
Mannerism
Born: 1 October 1541, Crete, Greece
Nationality: Greek-Spanish
Died: 7 April 1614, Toledo, Spain
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. El Greco was a nickname giving reference to his Greek origins, but he normally signed his paintings in his birth name, Doménikos Theotokópoulos, in Greek. Born in Candia, now known as Crete, which was part of the Republic of Venice, Italy, and the centre of post-Byzantine art, El Greco trained and became a master of that tradition before travelling to Venice at age 26. He moved to Rome in 1570, where he opened a workshop ad produced a series of works whilst enriching his style and techniques with elements of Mannerism and Venetian Renaissance. He moved to Toledo, Spain in 1577where lived and worked until his death
