Getty Museum
Saint John the Evangelist and an Angel
Creator
El Greco (Domenico Theotokopoulos)Greek Artist · 1541–1614
All works by this person →> As surely as the rate of payment is inferior to the value of my sublime work, so will my name go down to posterity as one of the greatest geniuses of Spanish painting. > >--El Greco Confident, extravagant and rebellious, El Greco hired musicians to play while he ate and prided himself on his refusal to comply with his clients' demands. Though he settled in Toledo, Spain, the artist known as "The
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1600
- Medium
- Pen and pale brown ink, gray-brown wash, on off-white paper
- Culture
- Spanish
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
With an expression of longing, Saint John the Evangelist gazes upward to heaven, gesturing with his right hand. Broad folds of drapery clothe his long body. An angel swathed in flowing drapery flies behind him, sketched freely with several *pentimenti.* El Greco used long, free lines to create rich patterns of form and then applied broad strokes of wash as veils. This loose sketch, one of only three accepted drawings by El Greco, is typical of his free-flowing style with its rich interplay of light and dark. He made the drawing as a preparatory sketch for a painting of the *Crucifixion.*
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