The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586-8) by
El Greco
Interpretation of Mannerist Catholic
Counter-Reformation Painting
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The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586-8) by
El Greco
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The Burial of Count Orgaz (El Entierro) (1586-8)Contents • Description Name: The Burial of Count Orgaz
(El Entierro) (1586-88)
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Analysis of The Burial of Count OrgazOne of El Greco's most beautiful religious paintings, The Burial of Count Orgaz is a typical example of the artist's powerful Catholic Counter-Reformation Art, with its elongated figures and forms designed to reveal the inner spirit. Indeed, El Greco's 'unworldly' style of Mannerist painting remains the ideal idiom in which to express a mystical event, and was undoubtedly a perfect match for the religious fervour of Spain. Its dramatic quality paved the way for the emotional and even more dramatic character of Spanish Baroque art and the Spanish Neapolitan School of Painting (1600-56). Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos, in Crete, El Greco learned icon painting before moving to Italy where he studied Venetian painting - the work of the ageing Titian (c.1485-1576) but more especially that of Tintoretto (1518-94) - as well as the Mannerist style of Jacopo Bassano (1515-92) and the great Michelangelo (1475-1564). Restless in Rome, El Greco moved to the Spanish capital Madrid, eventually settling in the city of Toledo - at the time, the religious centre of Spain - where he remained for the rest of his life. This particular painting was inspired by a 14th century legend concerning events which occurred in 1323 during the burial of a devout local nobleman, Don Gonzalo de Ruiz, known as the Count of Orgaz. |
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According to local legend, the funeral of the Count of Orgaz had some unexpected guests: namely, Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine, who appeared suddenly and miraculously to help lower the count's body into his tomb. The honour of having saints attend his funeral was in recognition of the count's pious life as well as his extreme generosity Toledo's religious institutions. In any event, the count had stipulated in his will that a yearly donation be collected from the citizens of Orgaz, a small town outside Toledo in his seigniorial possession, and be given to the parish church of Santo Tome in Toledo. The count was a parishioner of that church and had his private chapel there. However in 1562 the citizens of the town decided to stop making the payment, hoping the bequest would be forgotten. They could not have been more mistaken. The parish priest of Santo Tome, Andrez Nunez de Madrid, immediately instigated legal proceedings against the town and in 1569 the royal chancellery in Valladolid ruled in the priest's favour. To celebrate this legal victory, as well as to immortalize the Count's generosity, Nunez renovated the count's chapel and commissioned El Greco to paint an exceptionally large altarpiece for it. The contract that El Greco signed on 18 March 1586 included among its clauses a description of the subject: "The artist agrees to paint the scene which depicts the parish priest and other clerics reciting the office for the burial of Don Gonzalo de Ruiz, Count of Orgaz, when Saint Augustine and Saint Stephen descended from heaven to bury the body of this gentleman, one holding the head, the other the feet, and placing him in the sepulchre. Around the scene should be portrayed many observers and, above all this, there is to be an open sky showing heaven in glory." El Greco followed these specifications very closely. He divided the painting into two equal parts: the world of mortals in the lower half and the celestial vision above. He set the funeral scene at night, as was increasingly fashionable for funerals of the nobility in 16th-century Spain. Mortuary torches have been lit and a solemn gathering of men has formed around the miracle. One can almost hear the whispering between a Franciscan friar and an Augustinian friar on the left. Saints Stephen and Augustine, young and old, clean-shaven and bearded, are dressed in richly embroidered liturgical vestments. (A the bottom of Stephen's vestment is a scene portraying his death as a martyr by stoning - a deliberate reminder of the importance of martyrdom.) They solemnly hold the count's body, clad in shining armour, the textures of their fabrics contrasting evocatively with the metallic polish of the steel. Seen close up, El Greco's brushwork is spirited and descriptive - Saint Stephen's reflection can be seen in the armour. In addition, El Greco sets the scene in Toledo of the 1580s: the black garments, white ruffs and goatee beards belong to the fashionable attire of late 16th-century Spain and not the 14th century in which Orgaz died. Each individual appears to be a real portrait, and some of the figures are members of the military Order of Santiago, identifiable by the red crosses on their chests. Although their identities are largely uncertain, the priest on the right holding a book and reciting the funeral rites must be Nunez de Madrid. The man with a white beard, behind Saint Augustine, is Antonio de Covarrubias, a scholar fluent in Greek and a close friend of El Greco, who would also paint his portrait years later. El Greco may be identified as the figure looking directly at us, positioned above Saint Stephen's head. And the young boy looking out at us and pointing to Orgaz's body is El Greco's son, Jorge Manuel. He is there not only to lead us into the picture but to emphasize El Greco's role as the creator of the composition.
As mentioned above, El Greco first trained as a painter of icons, a form of Byzantine art favoured by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Rather than representing natural phenomena as perceived by the senses, icons are designed to give a glimpse into the transcendental world of the divine. Figures are typically two-dimensional, elongated and uniform in size and proportion. One of El Greco's earliest signed icons is the Dormition of the Virgin - discovered in 1982 in a monastery on the Greek island of Syros - which shows the mother of Christ 'asleep' surrounded by the apostles. Christ has miraculously appeared and takes her soul in the form of a swaddled baby in his hands. Above, the heavens have opened, the Holy Spirit appears and the Virgin sits enthroned as she is assumed into heaven. The visual links between this icon and The Burial of the Count of Orgaz are intriguing. It is as if El Greco were consciously referring back to his earlier work but inserting a newly acquired skill: that of being able to paint the natural world realistically. On the one hand, we are drawn into the composition by the realism of the black-clad men gathered around the count; yet, on the other, we are witnessing both a miracle and a celestial vision. In order to depict the men, El Greco draws on the examples of Titian and Tintoretto whose works - like the latter's Assumption of the Virgin (1516-18) - he had studied while in Venice. But to capture the abstract visual world of paradise, El Greco has resorted to his training as an icon painter. The medley of elongated figures in heaven, dressed in brightly coloured drapery as if lit by neon lights, are not so removed from the figures that appear in his icon. El Greco also introduces an element of hierarchy, favoured by the Orthodox Church: Christ sits at the top, surrounded by the saints in heaven; Saint Peter with the keys and the rest of the saints sit behind in tiers, as though at the theatre. But the most moving detail is just visible through a gap in the clouds - it is a small translucent figure, which the Virgin and Saint John plead to have admitted into heaven. That figure signifies the Count of Orgaz's immaterial and immortal soul. Other important influences on El Greco's handling of the composition are also detectable. The relatively uniform arrangement of figures in the lower half is reminiscent of Gothic art, such as the Sienese School of painting of the 14th century. However, the simple but easily understood hand gestures suggest the influence of the Italian High Renaissance (1490-1530). In the upper half of the picture, the slightly distorted ghostly figures evoke the works of Tintoretto at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, as also do the broken highlights on the drapery. The mainly 'acid colours' recall the colour schemes of Jacopo Bassano. In all, a masterpiece of Spanish painting as well as a magisterial illustration of Christian faith. Compare also the Mannerist forms of Parmigianino in works like: Madonna With the Long Neck (1535, Uffizi, Florence). Interpretation of Other Paintings by El Greco • The
Disrobing of Christ (1577) • View
of Toledo (1595-1600) • Portrait
of a Cardinal (1600) • Portrait
of Felix Hortensio Paravicino (1605) • Christ
Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (1609) Acknowledgements |
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