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The Assumption of the Virgin
by El Greco
Inscriptions
Inscribed lower right, in Greek: [Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Cretan, displayed this in 1577] (on paper)
Provenance
Commissioned 1577 by Don Diego de Castilla for the convent church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo; installed with other paintings in the main retable by September 1579; sold c. 1830 to the Infante Don Sebastián Gabriel de Borbón y Braganza (died 1875), Madrid and later Pau, France, but confiscated from him by the Spanish government and installed in the Museo Nacional de la Trinidad, Madrid, in 1835 [Lavice 1864 recorded that the Assumption was on display in the Museo Nacional de Pinturas, but this cannot be confirmed]; returned to Don Sebastián in 1861; his estate in custody of the Spanish government, 1875–87 [see María Teresa Baratech Zelama, “La testamentario del Infante Don Sebastián Gabriel de Borbón y Braganza,” Archivo español de arte 62 (1989), pp. 372–77 for the status of his estate]; his widow, the Infanta María Cristina de Borbón (died 1902), Aranjuez and Madrid; offered for sale, Madrid, October 1902, no. 2, but bought in, then lent by the Infanta’s heirs to the Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1902–04 [see Cossío 1908, p. 594, no. 279]; purchased from them by Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, for 100,000 frs. ($17,000), October 1904, with funds provided by Henry O. Havemeyer, New York [see Havemeyer 1961, p. 155]; sold to the Art Institute, July 17, 1906.
Exhibition history
Pau, Salons de l'ancien Asile de Pau, Tableaux appartenant aux héritiers de feu Msg. l’Enfant don Sébastien de Bourbon et Bragance, September 1876, cat. 668. Madrid, Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, Exposición de las obras de Domenico Theotocópouli, llamado El Greco, April 30 - July 31, 1902, cat. 6. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1933, cat. 169. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1934, cat. 70. Paris, Grand Palais, Greco, October 14, 2019–February 10, 2020, cat. 73; Art Institute of Chicago, El Greco: Ambition and Defiance, March 7–June 21, 2020, cat. 14. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, El Greco. Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Feb. 18–June 15, 2025, cat. 1.
Publications
Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco, El museo pictórico y escala óptica, vol. 3: El Parnaso español pintoresco laureado (Madrid: Lucas Antonio Bedmar, 1724), chap. 57; repr., Madrid: M. Aguilar, 1947, 841. Antonio Ponz, Viage de España: Cartas, en que se da noticia de las cosas mas apreciables, y dignas de saberse que hay en ella, vol. 1 (Madrid: Don Joachin Ibarra, 1772), 176; repr., Madrid: M. Aguilar, 1947, 78. Juan Augustín Ceán Bermúdez, Diccionario historico de los más ilustres profesores de las bellas artes en España, vol. V (Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, Hijoys, y Compañia, 1800), 10. S.S. Cook, Sketches in Spain during the years 1829, 30, 31, & 32; Containing notices of some districts very little known; of the manners of the people, government, recent changes, commerce, fine arts, and natural history, vol. 2 (London: T. and W. Boone, 1834), 158. Nicolás Magan, “Biografía española: El Greco,” Seminario pintoresco español 2 (September 8, 1844): 285–86. José Amador de los Rios, Toledo Pintoresca o Descripción de sus más célebres monumentos (Madrid: D. Ignacio Boix, 1845), 182; repr, Barcelona: El Albir, 1976. Sisto Ramón Parro, Toledo en la mano, o descripción histórico-artística de la magnífica cathedral y de los demás célebres monumentos y cosas notables que encierra esta magnífica ciudad, Antigua Corte de España, vol. 2 (Toledo: Severiano López Fando, 1857), 114–16. Louis Viardot, Les musées d'Espagne; guide et memento de l'artiste et du voyageur, suivis de notices biographiques sur les principaux peintres de l'Espagne, 3rd ed. (Paris: Hachette, 1860), 159. Sebastían de Bourbon, Les huiles et des vernis employés pour la peinture Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1st ser., 15 (1863): 176. A[ndré-Absinthe] Lavice, Revue des Musées d’Espagne. Catalogue reisonné des peintures et sculptures esposées dans les Galeries publiques et particulières et dans les églises (Paris: Vve. Jules Renouard, Libraire-Editeur, 1864), 225. Catalogue abrégé des tableaux exposés dans les salons de l'ancien asile de Pau appartenant aux héritiers de feu Mgr l'Infant don Sébastien de Bourbon et Bragance (Paris: Veronese, 1876), 73 cat. 668. Henry O'Shea, Guide to Spain and Portugal including the Balearic Islands, 3rd ed., (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1868), 288–89. Luis Rodriguez Miguel, Guía del viajero en Toledo (Toledo: [s.n.], 1880), 112–13. Vizconde de Palazuelos with Charles Docteur, Toledo: Guía histórico-práctica, trans. Charles Docteur (Toledo: Menor Hermanos, 1890), 831–32. Francisco Navarro Ledesma, “El Greco en Toledo,” La Ilustración Nacional 36, año 15 (December 30, 1894): 567. Carl Justi, “Domenico Theotocopuli von Kreta,” Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 8 (1897): 261; repr. in Miscellaneen aus dre Jahrhungerten Spanischen Kunstlebens (Berlin: G. Grotesche, 1908), 228, 229 (ill.), 230. Aureliano de Beruete y Moret, Velázquez (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1898), 67–68. Hannah Lynch, Toledo. The Story of an Old Spanish Capital (London: J. M. Dent & co., 1898), 197, 207. Guillermo J. de Guillén García, “Domenico Theotocópuli (El Greco): Sus cuadros,” Revista de la Asociación artístico arqueológica barcelonesa 2, año 3, no. 14 (July–August 1899): 243. Arthur Symons, “A Study at Toledo,” Monthly Review 2, no. 6 (March 1901): 149–50. Catalogue de la Collection de Tableaux de feu son Altesse Royale l'Infante Marie Christine de Bourbon (Madrid: Asiló de Huérfanos del S. C. de Jesús, 1902), cat. 2. Francisco de Alcántara, “El Greco, pintor cristiano,” El Imparcial, June 5, 1902): 3–4. Salvador Viniegra, Exposición de las obras de Domenico Theotocópouli, llamado El Greco, exh. cat. (Santa Catalina: J. Sastre et cetera., 1902), 20 cat. 6. Salvador Sanpere y Miquel, "Exposiciones Rosales y Greco,"Album Salón, (1902): 133. M[anuel] B. Cossío, “Más documentos inéditos para la histora del arte español,” La lectura: Revista de ciencias y de artes 5, no. 53 (1905): 2. Paul Lafond, “Domenikos Theotokopuli, dit Le Greco,” Les Arts 58 (October 1906): 4 (ill.), 5 (detail ill.), 18 (ill.). Ludwig Zottmann, “Zur Kunst von ‘El Greco,’” Die christliche Kunst 3 (1906/7): 67, 104–05. “La exportación de objectes d’art,” Forma 2 (1907): 451. Miguel Utrillo, Domenikos Theotokopulos: “El Greco” (Barcelona: Thomas, n.d. [1907?]), 5 (ill.). Manuel B. Cossío, El Greco, 2 vol. (Madrid: V. Suárez, 1908), 125–37, 143–44, 594, no. 279, pl. 16; rev. ed. by Natalia Cossío de Jiménez, Barcelona: Editorial R.M., 1972, 67, 79, 86–91, 94, 100–01, 104–05, 120, 128, 130, 236, 309, 370, fig. 24, no. 138. El Greco: Spanish School, Masters in Art ser., vol. 9, no. 103 (Boston: Bates and Guild, 1908), plate 3, 39, 42; Reprinted, Philip L[eslie] Hale, Great Masters in Art (New York: Crown Publishers, 1935). "The New El Greco Frame," Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1 (1908): 20–21 (ill.). Carl Justi, Miscellaneen aus drei Jahrhunderten spanischen Kunstlebens, 2 (Berlin: G. Grotesche, 1908), 228-29 (ill.), 230. Morton H. Bernath, "Drei Hauptwerke des Greco in Amerika," Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, 45 (1910): 20–21 (ill.), 22. Albert F[rederick] Calvert and C[atherine] Gasquoine Hartley, El Greco. An account of his life and works (London and New York: John Lane, 1909), viii no. 29, 60, 79–82, 87, 89-91, pl. 29. Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, El Greco en Toledo, ó Nuevas investigaciones acerca de la vida y obras de Dominico Theotocópuli (Madrid: Libería General de Victoriano Suárez, 1910), 31.; reprinted, Toledo, 1982, 45. August L. Mayer, El Greco: Eine Einführung in das Leben und Wirken des Domenico Theotocopuli (Munich: Delphin, 1911), 11 (ill.), 24–25; rev. ed., Munich: Delphin Verlag, 1916, 17, 55 pl. 8. Hugo Kehrer, Die Kunst des Greco: mit funfundfunfzig tafeln (Munich: Hugo Schmidt Verlag, 1914), 21, pl. 8; rev. ed., Munich: Hugo Schmidt Verlag, 1920, 21, pl. 8. “Painting Given to Art Institute,” Chicago Daily Tribune, February 14, 1915. William N. Bates, “Archaeological News,” American Journal of Archaeology 19, 3 (1915): 365–66. Lorinda Munson Bryant, What Pictures to See in America (New York: John Lane, 1915), 257–58, fig. 167. “Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sprague,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 9, no. 3 (1915): title ill., 34. Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings, and Drawings, Part II (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1920), 20, no. 50. A[ureliano] de Beruete y Moret, Conferencias de arte (Madrid, 1924), ill. opp. 110, 111–12. M[arian] C[omings], “El Grecos in the Art Institute,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 18, no. 3 (1924): 30–31 (ill.). Élie Lambert, “Les Procédés du Greco,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 5th ser., 10 (1924): 154. Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1925), 76, 154, no. 507 (ill.). August L. Mayer, Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco: kritisches und illustriertes Verzeichnis des Gesamtwerkes (Munich: F. Hanfstaengl, 1926), 19, no. 114, pl. 7. Verardo García Rey, El Déan de la Santa Iglesia de Toledo, don Diego de Castilla (Toledo: A. Medina, 1927), 79–80, 87–89. J[ens] F[erdinand] Willumsen, La Jeunesse du peintre El Greco, vol. 1 (Paris: Les Editions G. Crès et. Cie., 1927), 566–72, pl. 25. Emilio Huguet del Villar, El Greco en España (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1928), 10, 51–52, 70, 84–85, 171, pl. 3. Antonio Weyler, “Reflexiones sobre El Greco,” Arte español 10 (1929): 438–39. Frank Rutter, El Greco (New York: E. Weyhe, 1930), 28. Ellis K. Waterhouse, “El Greco’s Italian Period,” Art Studies 8 (1930): 81, 83, pls. 30–33. Camille Mauclair, Les Grands Artistes, Leur Vie – Leur Œuvre: El Greco, Hanri Laurens, ed. (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1931), 27, 75. August L. Mayer, El Greco (Berlin: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1931), 2, 13, 41–44, 163, fig. 32. Ella S. Siple, “Museums in Chicago,” Burlington Magazine 58, no. 335 (1931): 108. Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1932), 95–96 (ill.), 173. C[harles] J[oseph] Bulliet, “A Century of Progress in Collecting,” Parnassus 5, no. 4 (1933): 7. Daniel Catton Rich, "Die Ausstellung ‘Fünf Jahrhunderte der Frühmalerei’ in Chicago," Pantheon, 12 (December 1933): 381. Catalogue of a Century of Progress Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture Lent from American Collections, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), 26 cat. 169. Catalogue of a Century of Progress Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), 13 cat. 70. F[rederick] A[lbert] Gutheim, "El Greco and Chicago," Survey Graphic, 23, no. 10 (October 1934): 490–91 (ill.), 492. Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, "Documentos de El Greco referentes a los cuadros de Santo Domingo el Antiguo," Archivo español de arte y arqueologia, 10 (1934): 8; reprinted in El Greco: Documents on his Life and Work, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., (Crete University Press, 1990), 106. Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections, Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1935), 2 (ill.). Frederick A. Sweet, Exhibition of Spanish Painting, exh. cat. (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum Pree, 1935), n.p., under no. 27. Oskar Frank Leonard Hagen, Patterns and Principles of Spanish Art (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1936), 117; rev. ed., Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1943, 142. Raymond Escholier, Greco (Paris: Librairie Floury, 1937), 31 (ill.). M[aurice] Legendre and A[lbert] Hartmann, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Called El Greco (Paris: Hypérion, 1937), 236 (ill.). Ludwig Goldscheider, El Greco (New York: Oxford University Press, 1938), 9, 24, pl. 226; 2nd ed., London: Oxford University Press, 1949, 9, 18, pl. 12; 3rd ed., New York: Phaidon, 1954, 8–9, 17, pl. 13. Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1941), 2 (ill.). José Gudiol, Spanish Painting, exh. cat. (Toledo, OH: Toledo Museum of Art, 1941), 39 fig. 39, 40 (detail ill.). Ignacio de Beryes, Domenicos Theotocopoulos, El Greco (Barcelona: Iberia, 1944), 17. Juan de la Encina, Domenico Greco (Mexico City: Leyenda, 1944), 105–11. Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1945), 2 (ill.). Walter Heil, Loan Exhibition of Masterworks by El Greco, exh. cat. (San Francisco: M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, 1947), n.p. Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1948), 2 (ill.). Fiske Kimball and Lionello Venturi, Great Paintings in America: One Hundred and One Masterpieces in Color (New York: Coward-McCann, 1948), 94, no. 40 (ill.). "Recent Acquisitions," Pictures on Exhibit, 12, no. 4 (January 1950): 44. Leo Bronstein, El Greco. (Domenico Theotocopoulos) (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1950): 48, 50, pls. 1–2; repr., New York: N.H. Abrams, n.d. [1970?]), 48, 50, pls. 1–2; repr., New York: H.N. Abrams, 1990. José Camón Aznar, Domenico Greco, 2 vols. (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1950), vol. 1, 249–53, figs. 142, 144; vol. 2, 1356, no. 3; rev. ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1970, vol. 1, 270–79, figs. 161, 163–66, vol. 2, 1356, no. 3. Frederick A. Sweet, “Tintoretto and El Greco,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 44, no. 2 (1950): 23. Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art institute of Chicago, 1952), n.p. (ill.). Charles Fabens Kelley, "Chicago: Record Years," Art News, 51, no. 4 (June –August 1952): 52 (color ill.), 107. Bernardino de Pantorba, 70 Obras maestras del Greco (Madrid: Plus Ultra, 1953), 50, pl. 1. Diego Angulo Iñíguez, “Pintura del Renacimiento,” Ars Hispaniae 12 (1954): 277, fig. 283. Xavier de Salas, “Más valoraciones románticas del Greco y nota al pintor Aparicio y sus plagios,” Clavileño, revista de la Asociación internacional de hispanismo 5, no. 27 (1954): 29. Antonia Vallentin, El Greco (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955), pl. 24, 95–96, 286–88. Manuel B. Cossío, Dominico Theotocopuli. El Greco (The Dolphin Book Co. Ltd., 1955), n.p. (ill.) Lionello Venturi, The Sixteenth Century: From Leonardo to El Greco (New York: Skira, 1956), 257 (ill.), 262. Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956), 2 (ill.). Paul Guinard, El Greco: Biographical and Critical Study (New York: Skira, 1956), 18. Michel Florisoone, “La mystique plastique du Greco et les antécédents de son style,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6th year, 50 (1957): 36, fig. 22. Halldor Soehner, “Greco in Spainien. Teil I. Grecos Stilentwicklung in Spanien,” Münchner jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 8 (1957): 124, 126, 128, 132. Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño, La pintura española fuera de España: Historia y Catálogo (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1958), 53, 188–89, no. 1214, pl. 105. Aline B. Saarinen, The Proud Possessors (New York: Random House, 1958), 164–65. Elizabeth Du Gué Trapier, El Greco: Early Years at Toledo 1576-1586 (New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 1958), 6–12, 17, 24, fig. 6. Halldor Soehner, “Greco in Spainien. Teil II. Atelier und Nachfolge Greco's," Münchner Jahrbuch der bildende Kunst, 9-10 (1958-1959): 152, pl. 11c. Gaston Diehl, El Greco (New York, 1959), 32. Hugo Kehrer, Greco in Toledo: Höhe und Vollendung (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1960), 18. Halldor Soehner, “ARTICLE NAME” Münchner Jahrbuch der bildende Kunst 11 (1960): 176. Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1961), 89–91 (ill.), 203–04. Louisine W. Havemeyer, Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1961), 154–56. Pál Kelemen, El Greco Revisited: Candia, Venice, Toledo (New York: MacMillan Company, 1961), 147, 154–55, pl. 110B. F[rancisco] J[avier] Sánchez Canton, El Greco (Milan: Silvanna Editoriale d'Arte, 1961), 3. Harold E. Wethey, El Greco and His School, 2 vol. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962), 34, 112, figs. 46–48, 391, vol. 2, 4–5, no. 1; rev. Spanish ed., trans. Carlos Cid, Madrid: Guardarrama, 1967, vol. 1, p. 51, pls. 39–41, 391, vol. 2, p. 20, no. 1. Philip Troutman, El Greco (London: Spring Books, 1963), 13, 30, pl. 7. Allan Braham, “Two Notes on El Greco and Michelangelo,” Burlington Magazine 108 (1966): 307–08, fig. 39. Rodolfo Pallucchini, “L’Art Institute di Chicago,” L’illustrazione del medico 33 (Feb. 1966): 11 (ill.). Denys Sutton, “The Great Grey City,” Apollo 84 (1966): 177. Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (1966): 190–91, fig. 1. Andrea E. Emiliani, El Greco (Munich: Instituto Geografico de Agostini, 1966), 8. Tiziana Frati, L’opera completa del Greco (Milan: Rizzoli, 1969), 95–96, no. 23f (ill.). John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London: Thames and Hudson, 1970), 40–42 (ill.), 281; rev. ed., London: Thames and London, 1977, 40–42 (ill.), 282. Damián Bayón, “El Greco: Creador de conjuntos plásticos,” Colóquio 5 (1971): 17–19. José Gudiol, Doménikos Theotokopoulos: El Greco, 1541-1614 (Secker & Warburg, 1971), 67–68, 77, 342, no. 41, figs. 54–56; rev. ed., trans. Kenneth Lyons, London: Secker & Warburg, 1973, 67–68, 77, 342, no. 41, figs. 54–56. Everett Fahy and Sir Francis Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. 5 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973), 102–03. Jacques Lassaigne, El Greco, trans. Jane Brenton (London: Thames and Hudson, 1973), 171–72 (ill.). David Davies, El Greco (Oxford: Phaidon, 1976), 6–7, 12, pl. 1. Luciano Di Pietro and Edi Baccheschi, El Greco (Milan: Mondadori, 1976), 42 (ill.), 43 (detail ill.) Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1978), 18, 20, pl. 13; repr. Crawfordsville, IN: R. R. Donnelley & Sons, 1983, 18, 20 pl. 13. John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 152 (ill.), 153–54. Fernando Marías and Augustín Bustamonte, "Le Greco et se théorie de l'architecture," Revue de l’Art, no. 46 (1979): 39 (replica ill.). “‘The Assumption of the Virgin,’ by El Greco, 1577,” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1979, p. 110. Edi Baccheschi, Il Greco: Tutti i dipinti (Milan: Rizzoli, 1980), 24, no. 21f (ill.). Katharine Baetjer, “El Greco,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 39, no. 1 (1981): 26, 28–29 (ill.). Manuel B. Cossío, El Greco (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1981), 67, 70, 71 (ill.), 72–74. Rodolfo Pallucchini, La Pittura Veneziana del Seicento, vol. 1 (Venice: Alfieri, 1981), 57. Mercedes Agueda, "La colección de pinturas del infante Don Sebastián Gabriel," Boletín del Museo del Prado, 3, no. 7 (January–April 1982): 106 no. 26. Jonathan Brown, "El Greco and Toledo," in El Greco of Toledo, exh. cat., Jonathan Brown, ed., (Boston: Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1982), 116–18, 122, 135, figs. 66–67, pl. 22. David Davies, "Washington, National Gallery. El Greco of Toledo," Burlington Magazine 124, no. 953 (August 1982): 531–32. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, "On the Reconstruction of El Greco's Dispersed Altarpieces," in El Greco of Toledo, exh. cat., Jonathan Brown, ed., (Boston: Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1982), 151–52, 156, figs. 75–80. Kokuritsu Seiyō Bijutsukan, ed., El Greco Exhibition, exh. cat. (Tokyo: The National Museum of Western Art / The Tokyo Shimbun, 1986), 78, 91–92, fig. 16. Gilbert Jimenez, “El Greco’s ‘The Assumption’ Has More than Meets the Eye,” Chicago Sun-Times, August 15, 1986, p. 35. Yasunari Kitaura, “El procedor artístico de El Greco,” Boletín del Museo del Prado 7 (1986): 87. Richard G. Mann, El Greco and His Patrons: Three Major Projects (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 36–41, fig. 9. Frances Weitzenhoffer, The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1986), 156–57, pl. 125. Myrtali Acheimastou-Potamianou, ed., From Byzantium to El Greco. Greek Frescos and Icons, exh. cat., trans. David A. Hardy (Athens: Royal Academy of the Arts, 1987), 191 under cat. 63. José Álvarez Lopera, De Ceán a Cossío: la fortuna crítica del Greco en el siglo XIX (Madrid: Fundacion Universitaria Española, 1987), 15, 46n90, 122, 124, 152n52, 162n111. Kenneth S. Lynn, Hemingway (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1987), 16, 402–03. Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1988), 8, 23 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report, 1988–89 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1989), 22–23. David McCracken, "Picking Chicago's Top Art Hits: An Opinionated Selection of 40 'Pop' Favorites,"Chicago Tribune Weekly Guide, August 18–24, 1989, section 7K (ill.) David Davies, El Greco: Mystery and Illumination, exh. cat. (Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland / Edinburgh International Festival, 1989), 24–25 fig. 9. Suzanne L. Stratton, La Inmaculada Concepción en el arte español (Madrid: Fundacion Universitaria Española, 1989), 43–33 fig. 37; English ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 54-56, fig. 35. Jonathan Brown and Richard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 42. David Davies, "The relationship of El Greco's altarpieces to the mass of the Roman rite" in The Altarpiece in the Renaissance Peter Humfrey and Martin Kemp, eds., (Cambridge University Press, 1990), 215, 222, 226, 231, pl. 131. Mercedes Orihuela, ed., Museo del Prado: Inventario general de pinturas, vol. 2: El museo de la Trinidad (bienes desamortizados) (Madrid: Museo del Prado: Espasa Calpe, 1991), 108 no. 299 (ill.). Éva Nyerges, “La Madeleine pénitente du Greco à Budapest,” Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 76 (1992): 51 fig. 33. Anne Cloulas, Greco (Paris: Fayard, 1993), 44, ill. José Álvarez Lopera, El Greco. La obra esencial (Madrid: Sílex, 1993), 92–96, 243 (ill.), 279, no. 34. Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen et. al., Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993), 17–18, 229, 233, 238, 243, fig. 66. Neil Harris, Chicago's Dream, a World's Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893–1993, Teri J. Edelstein, ed. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), 24 (ill.). Dario Gamboni, "Arts visuels, espace et territoire," in Le Grand Atlas de I'art vol. 1 (Paris: Encyclopaedia Universalis, 1993), 15-16 fig. 6. Albert Boime, "The Americanization of El Greco," in El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium – Iraklion, Crete, 1-5 September 1990, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., (Iraklion: University of Crete, 1995), 621–22. Clare Robertson, "El Greco and Roman Mannerism," in El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium – Iraklion, Crete, 1-5 September, 1990, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., (Iraklion: University of Crete, 1995), 46, 400. Stella Papadaki-Oekland, "El Greco's 'Byzantinism': A Re-evaluation," in El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium – Iraklion, Crete, 1-5 September, 1990, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., (Iraklion: University of Crete, 1995), 418–20 fig. 11. Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., El Greco in Italy and Italian Art, exh. cat. (Athens: National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum/Foundation for Research and Technology Hella, 1995), 400 [O Gkreko stin Italia kai i italiki techni]. Jon Margolis, “Off-the-Wall Lessons in History: One Man’s Unorthodox View of the Art Institute,” Chicago Tribune Magazine, Sept. 17, 1995, p. 16. Patricia Taylor, “Blasphemous Altar: Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon as an Homage to the Virgin-Whore,” Journal for the Association of the Interdisciplinary Study of the Arts 1, no. 1 (Autumn 1995): 136–37, 151 fig. 3. Jonathan Brown, "Picasso and the Spanish Tradition of Painting," in Picasso and the Spanish Tradition, Jonathan Brown, ed., (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 6, 8, 10 figs. 1, 5. Robert Rosenblum, "The Spanishness of Picasso's Still Lifes in Picasso and the Spanish Tradition, Jonathan Brown, ed., (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 75–76. José Milicua, ed., El Greco: La seva revaloració pel Modernisme català, exh. cat. (Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Institut de Cultura: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, 1996), 106. Fernando Marías, El Greco. Biografía de un pintor extravagante, 1st ed. (Madrid: Nerea, 1997), 151–52, figs. 94, 96; rev. Spanish ed., El Greco. Historia de un pintor extravagante Madrid: Nerea, 2014, PAGES. Janis Tomlinson, From El Greco to Goya: Painting in Spain, 1561–1828 (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1997), 47–49 fig. 23. Erica E. Hirschler, "Helping ‘Fine Things across the Atlantic’: Mary Cassatt and Art Collecting in the United States,” in Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, exh. cat., Judith A. Barter, ed., (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New York: H.N. Abrams, 1998), 204–205 fig. 31. Richard G. Mann, "El Greco’s Altarpieces for the Chapel of Saint Joseph: Devotion, Politics, and Artistic Innovation in Counter-Reformation Toledo,” in The Word Made Image: Religion, Art, and Architecture in Spain and Spanish America, 1500–1600, Anne Hawley, ed., (Boston: Trustees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Hanover N.H.: Distributed by University Press of New England, 1998), 48–49 fig. 1. Stephan A. Nash, ed., Picasso and the War Years, 1937–1945, exh. cat. (New York: Thames and Hudson; San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums, 1998), 44–45 fig. 8. José Manuel Pita Andrade, “El Greco in Spagna,” in El Greco: identità e trasformazione: Creta, Italia, Spagna, exh. cat., José Álvarez Lopera, ed., (Milan: Skira, 1999), 134–136 (ill.). Yasunari Kitaura, "El Greco: La antigüedad encontrada a través del Renacimiento italiano,” in El Greco in Italy and Italian Art: proceedings of the international symposium, Rethymno, Crete, 22-24 September 1995, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., (Rethymno: University of Crete, 1999), 258 fig. 2, 260–61. Joanne Snow-Smith, “El Greco’s Religious Oeuvre in Spain: Reflections of Titian’s Venetian Light and Michelangelo’s Figura Serpentina,” in El Greco in Italy and Italian Art: proceedings of the international symposium, Rethymno, Crete, 22-24 September 1995, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, ed., (Rethymno: University of Crete, 1999), 416-17 fig. 10. Sylvia Ferino-Pagden and Fernando Checa Cremades, eds., El Greco, exh. cat. (Milan; Vienna: Skira, 2001), 28, 30, 36, 105, 142, pl. 9. Susan Grace Galassi, "The Frick El Grecos," in El Greco: Themes and Variations, exh. cat., Joseph Foscarino, ed., (New York: The Frick Collection, 2001), 36. Marcia B. Hall, The Sacred Image in the Age of Art: Titian, Tintoretto, Barocci, El Greco and Caravaggio (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001), 228, 232-33 fig. 184, 240 David Davies, ed., El Greco, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003), 34, 48, 82, 109, 115, 130, 228, fig. 12. Albert Boime, “El Greco en Nueva York: Su influencia en Jackson Pollock,” in Francisco Calvo Serraller, ed., El Greco, Madrid, 2003, p. X. Alverez Lopera, et. al., El Greco (Barcelona: Galaxia gutenberg, 2003), XIV (replica ill.), XV (ill.). Fernando Checa, "El Greco y Tiziano," in El Greco (Barcelona: Galaxia gutenberg, 2003), 37. Richard G. Mann, “La ‘Asunción de la Virgen’: Creación y recepción de una obra maestra,” in El Greco (Barcelona: Galaxia gutenberg, 2003), 139–73, pl. 15. Neil Harris, "The Park in the Museum: The Making of an Icon," in Seurat and the Making of La Grande Jatte, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; Berkeley: In association with the University of California Press, 2004), 234 fig. 8, 257n8. Martha Wolff, ed., Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 54-61, ill. José Redondo Cuesta, “Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Llamado El Greco: Estado de la cuestión,” in Domenikos Theotokopoulos 1900: El Greco, exh. cat. (Mexico D.F.: Socuedad Estatal para Acción Cultural Exterior, 2009), 63. Al Gury, Color for Painters: A Guide to Traditions and Practice (New York: Watson-Guptill, 2010), 85 (ill.). Fernando Marías, El Greco: Life and Work - A New History (New York and London: Thames and Hudson, 2013), 132-142 (ill.), 143-144 (ill.), 145. Leticia Ruiz Gómez, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, El Greco: 1541–1614 (Madrid: MAPFRE, 2013), 34-36 (ill.) Joaquín Melendo Pomareta, El misterio de El Greco y el franciscano Peretti: Papa Sixto V (1585-90) (Carenas: ASPACAR [Asociación en Defensa del Patrimonio de Carenas], 2013), 31-34 (illustrated, but miscredited to the Museo del Prado). Fernando Marías, “The Greek, Between Invention and Historyn El Greco of Toledo: Painter of the Visible and the Invisible, exh. cat., Fernando Marías, ed., (Madrid: Ediciones El Viso, 2014), 30-31, fig. 13. Javier Barón, ed. El Greco y la Pintura Moderna, exh. cat. (Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2014), 41, 78, 79 fig. 39, 80-81, 96, 102, 104, 105 (fig. 55) 106, 117, 134, 245, 252. Fernando Marías, “Convent of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo,” in El Greco of Toledo: Painter of the Visible and the Invisible, exh. cat., Fernando Marías, ed., (Madrid: Ediciones El Viso, 2014), 249-253. Miguel Cortés Arrese and David Blázquez, El fuego griego: memoria de El Greco en Castilla-La Mancha (Toledo: Editorial Cuarto Centenario, 2014), 64 (replica ill.), 65-66, 71. Palma Martínez-Burgos, Maestros: El Greco (Alcobendas, Madrid: Editorial LIBSA, 2014), 14-15, 60-61 (ill.). Andrew R. Casper, Art and the Religious Image in El Greco’s Italy (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2014), 1-2, 3 fig. 2, 4, 153-60. Steven F. Ostrow, "Zurbarán's Cartellini: Presence and the Paragone," Art Bulletin 99 (2017): 74, 92 n. 51. Guillaume Kientz, ed., Greco, exh. cat. (Paris: RMN Editions, 2019), 5 (detail ill.), 7 (detail ill.), 8 (detail ill.), 232. Keith Christiansen, “Greco en Italia,” in Greco, exh. cat., ed. Guillaume Kientz (Paris: RMN Editions, 2019), 29–30, 36. Richard L. Kagan, “Tolède, Urbs Sacra: Le painter et ses commanditaires,” in Greco, exh. cat., ed. Guillaume Kientz (Paris: RMN Editions, 2019), 42. Rebecca J. Long, “Greco peinter de retables: Ambitions et frustrations (1577–1582),” in Greco, exh. cat., ed. Guillaume Kientz (Paris: RMN Editions, 2019), 143–44, 146. Rebecca J. Long, ed., El Greco: Ambition and Defiance, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cover image, 9, 12, 14, 112, 114–15 cat. 14, 193. Keith Christiansen, “El Greco in Italy,” in El Greco: Ambition and Defiance, exh. cat., ed. Rebecca J. Long (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), 18, 26. Rebecca J. Long, “El Greco’s Altarpieces: Artistic Ambition and Legal Frustration,” in El Greco: Ambition and Defiance, exh. cat., ed. Rebecca J. Long (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), 42 (replica ill.), 43–44. Richard L. Kagan, “Urbs Sacra: The Demand for Art in El Greco’s Toledo,” in El Greco: Ambition and Defiance, exh. cat., ed. Rebecca J. Long (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), 66. Thomas Connors, “Master Plans: The Art Institute takes a good hard look at the great El Greco,” Splash Magazine (March 2020): 13 (color ill.) Kyle MacMillan, “El Greco on A Grand Scale: Art Institute’s extensive exhibition showcases Greek master’s expressive power,” Chicago Sun Times, March 4, 2020, 25 (color ill.) “El Greco Moves In,” Art & Antiques (June 2020): 24. Leticia Ruiz Gómez, El Greco. Santo Domingo el Antiguo, exh. cat. (Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2025), 6 (detail ill.), 17, 27–28, 30 cat. 1, 31 (ill.), 32–33, 34 (detail ill.), 35. A. J. Goldmann, "Awe-Inspiring Altarpieces," The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2025, A13 (ill.). James Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 6 (detail ill.), 39 (ill.). James Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 65, 258, no. 40 (ill.).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos; Greek, active in Spain, 1541–1614)
- Date
- 1577–79
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 403.2 × 211.8 cm (158 3/4 × 83 7/16 in.); Framed: 461.6 × 256.5 × 14 cm (181 3/4 × 101 × 5 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- oil on canvas
- Style
- Mannerism
- Place
- Greece
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Gift of Nancy Atwood Sprague in memory of Albert Arnold Sprague
- Accession no.
- 1906.99
More by El Greco in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00001336
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