The Trinity by El Greco

El Greco was a painter, sculptor, and an architect. When in Spain he was the first great genius of his Spanish school. El Greco's real name is not the one you see on all of the paintings his real name is Domenikos Theotocopoulos. El Greco was born in 1541 and died in 1614. None know of his childhood. In 1566 he became a master painter and moved or traveled to Venice. Later in 1570 he traveled to Rome to meet Giulio Clovio a miniaturist. Very few of his pieces survived the years. One of the surviving pieces is The Purification of The Temple which is now located in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and in NG, Washington. In 1577 he arrived at Toledo and remained there until death. Two of his most popular painting is El Espolio and The burial of Count Orgaz. (http://www.arthistory.cc/auth/greco/)

The painting The Holy Trinity has eight figures. These figures are Christ, The father, a dove, and several angels. The angles are wearing an array of color arranging from red to blue. The father (god) is wearing gold and white, showing his purity. The dove is located in the top of the painting with a background of a golden sunlight. At the bottom of the painting he shows the dark color of blue portraying the earthly sky below. (http://www.maestro-hennis.com/info.htm)

This painting looks as if it were a live object the colors used are wonderful and vibrant. The lighting used for the doves was as though the bird was coming from true light. The body of Jesus was portrayed perfectly with the way the bible describes the wounds on the body of Christ. One of the reasons I choose this picture was because of the wonderful color El Greco used. For both the angels and the Holy Father the color and depth was painted to perfection. One of the most interesting facts I learned was that El Greco is not the painters real name that his true name is Domenikos Theotocopoulos. A lot of things intrigued me about this painting, one of which is the beautiful use of color and depth. One question arose in my mind was how did he do it? And yet I still have no answer. As of why he painted this or how this image came to him weather in the form of a dream or just a thought. One interesting quote that I found while looking for this answer is a section from the holy bible, in Matthew 28: 16-20 which statesÐ'...

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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