Domenikos El Greco Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

El Greco, pseudonym Domínikos Theotokópoulos, was born in Heraklion in 1541. He was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect and was one of the most important figures of the late Spanish Renaissance. Read the full biography

El Greco, pseudonym Domínikos Theotokópoulos, was born in Heraklion in 1541. He was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect and was one of the most important figures of the late Spanish Renaissance. After his apprenticeship as an icon painter, he moved to Venice to deal directly with the famous workshops of Titian, Bassano, Tintoretto and Veronese. In 1570 he also went to Rome where he opened a workshop and painted a series of works. During his stay in Italy, El Greco was influenced by the traits of mannerism and the Venetian Renaissance, inspired above all by Tintoretto in the sinuous and elongated lines, in the sense of movement and in the drama of lighting, and by the late Titian in the use of color. In 1577 he moved to Toledo, where he received numerous important commissions. El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style became a source of inspiration for poets and writers, not attributable to traditional painting schools. El Greco died in Toledo on 7 April 1614.