The Martyrdom of St. Maurice and the Theban Legion Some thoughts on the style of El Greco
While stretching or deformation feature up and down the characters of El Greco has been attributed to the great devotion, patented in which actors tend to " rise "to God, other scholars have postulated a different theory.
It expresses that the painter suffered from eye disease called astigmatism, caused by a defect in the curvature of the lens . Astigmatic patients are the distorted images in a another direction.
The first theory, called "religious ", rests on five pillars:
The longitudinal elongation of the figures was a resource widely used in European religious art, particularly the Gothic.
is a recognized technique to emphasize the remoteness and divine
All teachers and influences of El Greco's used: Byzantine art, the Venetian school and Italian mannerist;
Astigmatism distorts images on a single axis, while many figures of El Greco are enlarged both vertically and horizontally, and
Finally, El Greco seems to have used this resource in all figures (as had been expected in a astigmatism) but only some. There are differences between terrestrial and celestial creatures of The Burial of Count Orgaz: the first is normal while the latter are elongated.
These artistic considerations are not yet able to invalidate the theory called "care." The latter is based on the following considerations:
bodily forms of El Greco always show a slight skew deviation, deformation called "elliptical", which is typical of patients with oblique astigmatism;
Astigmatism is one of the most common diseases: only 1 in 3,000 people is free from it;
The elliptical shapes tend to be worse with the age of El Greco, precisely what happens with astigmatism, failing which increases with age,
When photographing the paintings of El Greco with a corrective lens for astigmatism, the elliptical deformation and elongation of the body disappears, and
Some biographers claim that certain paintings by El Greco were painted with the help of his brother. Coincidentally, the canvas where he took this are the least suffering elliptical aberration.
The Argentine physician Dr. Charles G. Musso, Department of Nephrology Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires , subscribe to both theories at once, and he thinks they are not incompatible. El Greco might have used the enlongamiento expressive and "spirit" of his predecessors, but is also convinced that the artist suffered a high degree of astigmatism that was aggravated by growing older. I, nor remove or put king. Just serve my lord.
To learn more about the life, work and style of the painter:
http://www.artehistoria.com/frames.htm?http://www.artehistoria .com/genios/pintores/2106.htm
http://www.imageandart.com/tutoriales/biografias/el_greco/index.html
http://cvc.cervantes.es/actcult/museoprado/citas_claroscuro/greco/greco.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/greco/
http://www.arteespana.com/elgreco.htm
Notice to mariners : the author of this blog or subscribe or longer subscribe to these theories. I'm just stating some considerations which, though not accepted by many or few, are not without interest for a better understanding of the work El Greco. Get debate.
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