El Greco Biography for Kids
Hello, my name is Doménikos Theotokópoulos. But people call me El Greco. It is Spanish for “the Greek.”
I was born on the Greek island of Crete. You know where Crete is in the Mediterranean Sea, right?
I studied painting as a young man at a monastery so my first artistic influences were creating Byzantine style religious icons, which are pictures of saints in churches. These paintings look kind of flat and lacked expression.
Later, I went to Italy to study and learned to draw the human figure like Giotto so that my people were three-dimensional.
Then I studied Renaissance masters in Rome like Raphael…
…and Michelangelo.
But I criticized Michelangelo’s painting “The Last Judgement” which is on the altar in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, even offering to redo it, so I made many people angry.
Since I made a few enemies by criticizing Michelangelo’s work, I moved to Spain. I hoped to paint for King Phillip II and painted The Martyrdom of St. Maurice for him. He didn’t like it, though, so I guess I understand what it means to be criticized.
I usually painted stories from the Bible, like most of the Renaissance painters, such as this painting of Pentecost.
I was known for my unique use of color and my elongated figures. Elongated means stretched out, so my people look tall and thin, like this painting of John the Baptist.
People say I have an individual style as if I put together Byzantine church tradition with Western painting. I may have influenced artists who used Expressionism and Cubism in modern times!
Here’s what you should remember about me.
- I am El Greco, which means “The Greek” in Spanish(really named Doménikos Theotokópoulos).
- I lived from 1541 to 1614.
- I am the Greek artist know for elongated figures.
- I painted in the Late Renaissance Era.
- My paintings express my individual style which could be described as a combination of Byzantine church tradition and Western painting.
Investigate the life and art works of El Greco in this artist unit study!
Watch the video about me too!
Resources:
Get a free ebooklet on How to Draw a Face
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El Greco (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia
Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children’s History of Art
DK Annotated Guides Great Artists: The Lives of 50 Painters Explored Through Their Work
