How the Christian iconographies were used in `The Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind`(by El Greco)-Annotated Bibliography

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Identification of Christian Iconographies in El Greco 's Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind

Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541-1614 ) also known as El Greco (Spanish for The Greek ) was a Greek painter , sculptor , and architect who spent much of his time in Italy and Spain during the Renaissance . Like many Renaissance painters , the matter of his paintings is related to biblical accounts of Jesus Christ 's life and ministry . Nevertheless , it does not mean that his style was just a mere repetition of the typical style that was imposed by the involvement

of the Catholic Church in the Arts . As a matter of fact , his style is quite unusual due to his Greek origin . Although his family may have been part of a Roman Catholic minority on the Mediterranean island of Crete , El Greco was trained in the Orthodox Greek Byzantine tradition of icon painting , which had a life-long effect on his work . One cannot fully understand El Greco 's art without examining the theology of the icon . The icon is held by the believer to be an agent of communion between the worshiper and that which is represented . Before the icon , there is a moment of encounter between the terrestrial and celestial . The icon mediates the presence and power of God to the worshiper . This theology is evident in El Greco 's art - the temporal is represented as sanctified and the sacred is made . Specifically , his fluid style is a synthesis of Greek , Italian and Spanish influences and his rapturous images are claimed by each of these national traditions of painting . Allowing no division between the material and spiritual , El Greco 's art was rooted in his personal vision , and the mysticism of the Catholic Counter Reformation . Around 1566-67 , El Greco traveled to Venice , which then controlled Crete and was under the sway of the Byzantine tradition (the Crusaders had carted off many of Byzantium 's treasures to Venice . There the painter was likely a pupil of Titian , and influenced by Veronese and Tintoretto Around 1570 , El Greco went to Rome in search of patronage . Christ driving money changers out of the temple was his first widely recognized work in Rome . El Greco had painted this subject before and would return to it again (there are four versions in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit . This biblical story was popular with the Counter Reformation movement , suggesting that El Greco had , at least by this date identified with the Roman church , who imagined Christ driving out merchants from the temple as symbolic of the Church purifying itself from the Protestant heresy . El Greco 's return again and again to the same subject , with only minor , but significant , compositional alterations , may be a key evidence of his training in the Byzantine school of icon painting , where artists are discouraged from deviating from the established model . Interestingly , among the Renaissance painters , a similar tradition existed with themes , colors , gestures , and symbolism that were used to paint biblical accounts of Jesus ' life and ministry...