Produced during the Catholic Counter-Reformation, El Greco’s painting is an ecstatic embrace of the spiritual.
El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo). Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker
0:00:06.7 Dr. Steven Zucker: We wanted to talk about El Greco’s enormous canvas, the Burial of Count Orgaz. This is in a funerary chapel in a church in the city of Toledo in Spain. We’ve been looking forward to seeing this painting because we spent the week in Madrid looking at his work in the Prado.
0:00:24.1 Dr. Beth Harris: El Greco takes some effort to love. And I think part of that is because we learn El Greco right after the High Renaissance, where we’ve looked at Raphael’s School of Athens or Leonardo’s Last Supper.
0:00:38.9 Dr. Steven Zucker: It’s this really shocking transition. How could we go from the balance and interest in linear perspective and the rational to painting that at first seemed so scattered and distorted? What could possibly have happened? So let’s look closely at the painting and try to understand how it’s responding to the religious and the political environment in which this work is made. But before we do that, let’s do a quick biography of the artist.
0:01:03.7 Dr. Beth Harris: El Greco is born on the Greek island of Crete.
0:01:07.7 Dr. Steven Zucker: He likely worked producing icon paintings, part of a long tradition of Christian painting in this area.
0:01:14.2 Dr. Beth Harris: But El Greco was ambitious. He moved from Crete to Venice.
0:01:18.8 Dr. Steven Zucker: Some of the most famous artists in the Western tradition were working at that time. Titian was working. Tintoretto was working.
0:01:26.0 Dr. Beth Harris: One of the things that’s very special about Venetian painting is its use of color. And this is something that we will see the impact of in El Greco’s later work. From Venice, he goes to Rome, where he spends a few years.
0:01:38.4 Dr. Steven Zucker: And then he moves to Spain. Initially, he sets himself up in Madrid, but in short order, he finds himself in Toledo, this deeply religious city, with a lot of churches and with a lot of opportunities for patronage, that is, people willing to hire somebody like him to paint images for the churches.
0:01:56.1 Dr. Beth Harris: At this moment, art is being carefully controlled. This is a result of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in 1517. Luther’s followers were troubled by the use of images in the Church. They were concerned that people believed the images themselves were divine. And in the Protestant countries in Northern Europe, we actually see the rampant destruction of religious images. For Catholics, though, images were incredibly important for educating people and inspiring their faith. And the Catholic Church made a pronouncement on the correct use of images and insisted somewhat vaguely, that from thenceforth they had to show the saints and religious figures and the stories of the Bible in very clear and legible ways. And there’s a sort of chill that happens among artists. What does it mean to respond to these strictures? El Greco finds himself in this moment, in the very deeply religious center of Toledo.
0:03:04.5 Dr. Steven Zucker: So the Burial of Count Orgaz is a really good example of a painting where the historical context is central to unlocking the meaning of the painting and unlocking the style of the painting.
0:03:15.9 Dr. Beth Harris: Count Orgaz, better known as the Lord of Orgaz, the ruler of the town of Orgaz, lived in the 14th century, and a miracle occurred at his funeral. The sources tell us that as Lord Orgaz was being buried, Saint Augustine and Saint Stephen came down from the heavens. One of them took his feet, the other his shoulders, and lowered him into his tomb. Now they showed up because Orgaz had lived such a virtuous life.
0:03:45.9 Dr. Steven Zucker: That is, he had lavished a good portion of his fortune on the churches of Toledo.
0:03:49.7 Dr. Beth Harris: For Catholics, good works helped you to achieve a place in heaven. And this was the stark difference between the Catholics and the Protestants. So one of the things that this painting is doing is reminding us that if you do good works, you will be rewarded with a place in heaven.
0:04:06.3 Dr. Steven Zucker: Count Orgaz, who is being lowered miraculously by these two saints who have appeared from heaven, is seen again being taken into heaven by an angel. And everybody in heaven seems to be paying attention.
0:04:20.5 Dr. Beth Harris: We see God in heaven on either side. We see Mary and Saint John, and they are pleading his case. We see, right next to Mary, Saint Peter, who holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And we see saints and other biblical figures in the heavens. And ideally, Count Orgaz will take his place among them.
0:04:41.6 Dr. Steven Zucker: Well, he seems to have a very good chance. After all, two saints have lowered him down into his grave, and Mary and John are awfully powerful advocates. What El Greco has done is he’s given us a kind of frieze. All of the figures are pushed up to the foreground. There is quite a crowd.
0:04:58.1 Dr. Beth Harris: These are all prominent citizens from the city of Toledo. So if you were a contemporary of El Greco’s and you looked at this painting, you probably would have recognized these figures.
0:05:09.3 Dr. Steven Zucker: And if we look really closely, we can actually make out what we think is a self-portrait. The only figure that is looking directly out of the canvas.
0:05:17.7 Dr. Beth Harris: And one wonders, what are all these 16th-century people from Toledo doing in this scene of a miracle that took place in the 14th century?
0:05:27.4 Dr. Steven Zucker: There’s a complete collapsing of time. Not only are these men witnessing the miracle of Count Orgaz, but the saints themselves are wearing clothing that would have been worn in the 16th century. So in terms of time, none of this makes sense.
0:05:41.4 Dr. Beth Harris: In a way, this is a story that’s been taken out of time and is a confirmation of an important Catholic dogma.
0:05:49.4 Dr. Steven Zucker: And to make that point especially clear, El Greco has painted a young boy just off to the left, who looks out directly at us and points to Count Orgaz, seeming to say, learn this lesson. Witness this truth. And it’s a nice side note that art historians think that the boy who modeled for this figure was actually El Greco’s son.
0:06:11.3 Dr. Beth Harris: So one of the things that’s often commented on about this painting is the difference between the way El Greco painted the earthly realm with that frieze of heads and these blacks and whites, and this explosion of colors and clouds and angular, elongated figures and figures that are foreshortened in heaven above.
0:06:32.3 Dr. Steven Zucker: But there’s also an explosion of color at the bottom of the painting. We have these brilliant, golden vestments that are worn by Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine. And look at the way that they frame Lord Orgaz, who is represented beautifully in this suit of armor. And yet his body has this lovely S curve as he’s being cradled in the arms of these saints.
0:06:54.5 Dr. Beth Harris: El Greco is certainly looking at images of the entombment of Christ being lowered into his tomb. So we have this analogy being made between Lord Orgaz and Christ himself. The armor that he’s wearing is so reflective and so hard seeming, and it’s in such contrast to the softness of the clouds in the heavens above.
0:07:17.9 Dr. Steven Zucker: But it’s also in contrast to the softness of these large copes that the two saints wear, which are heavily embroidered. And in fact, within the embroidery, we can see that saints have been depicted. If you look closely at Saint Stephen at the bottom, you can see what almost looks like a painting that has been presumably embroidered into his cloak and that shows the stoning, that is, the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. And this is another signal that in the Catholic Church of the Counter-Reformation, the importance of saints are going to be underscored.
0:07:50.3 Dr. Beth Harris: The idea of saints as intercessors between God and man was incredibly important for the church at this time.
0:07:58.4 Dr. Steven Zucker: And we can see the role of intercessors directly depicted in heaven here. Spiritual speaking on behalf of Count Orgaz to Christ so that he can be found, blessed and enter the kingdom of heaven.
0:08:08.4 Dr. Beth Harris: It’s crowded. Most of the figures are pushed forward toward us, and spaces between figures are occupied by clouds, by angels.
0:08:18.9 Dr. Steven Zucker: And look at the angular way in which Saint John is depicted. It further activates this already incredibly active surface. And this stands inside contrast to the emphasis on harmony and proportion that had been so important to artists in the Renaissance.
0:08:35.1 Dr. Beth Harris: Well, for El Greco, who wants to make the miraculous real to us, he wants to engage us, to draw us in, to make us feel as though we are witnessing this miracle before us. Heaven is something which is constantly in flux, and in that way it differs from the earthly realm below. Light is flickering, figures are moving, forms are foreshortened.
0:09:00.3 Dr. Steven Zucker: But there’s something else going on here which I find so interesting, which is that the heavens are depicted so close above the heads of the men who stand on earth. There is a clear separation between the heavens and the earth here, but they are so close to each other, it’s as if one of them could reach up. And in some ways, El Greco is anticipating where art is going to move in the following century. During the Baroque period, there will be real emphasis by artists to reduce the separation between the heavens and the earth, to make the heavens a direct extension of the earthly sphere.
0:09:36.1 Dr. Beth Harris: I’m just looking at the way that El Greco painted this. If you look at this yellow robe worn by the angel that’s carrying the soul of Lord Orgaz, you can see these broad strokes of yellowish gold paint and this idea that he’s painting quickly and there’s a feeling of inspiration, of energy that matches the miraculous subject that he’s painting.
0:10:00.6 Dr. Steven Zucker: And so by looking at this painting, I think we can begin to see the way El Greco was fulfilling the concerns of Counter-Reformation Toledo. That is, his painting is about a kind of ecstatic embrace of the spiritual. It is making the glory of God directly accessible.
El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
A miracle at a burial
Don Gonzalo Ruíz, who died in 1323 (and was later known by the title, Count of Orgaz), is not likely someone you know. Ruíz, who was the Señor (Lord or ruler) of the town of Orgaz, donated money to the church of Santo Tomé in Toledo, Spain upon his death. Local stories circulated about the Count of Orgaz in the fourteenth century, including a miraculous story of the circumstances of his burial: that after he died Saints Augustine and Stephen lowered him into his tomb to honor him for his good deeds. This story continued to be popular in the city of Toledo, serving as the source of inspiration for one of the city’s most famous paintings: El Greco’s The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. The painting was made for the burial chapel of the Count of Orgaz at Santo Tomé between 1586 and 1588. While you may not know Don Gonzalo Ruíz, chances are you’ve seen a reproduction of El Greco’s painting—it is one of the world’s most recognizable and often reproduced paintings.
“The Greek”
El Greco, St. Luke Painting the Virgin and Child, c. 1560–67, tempera and oil on panel, 41.6 x 33 cm (Benaki Museum)
El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), or The Greek, is known for numerous paintings where malleable and elongated figures are lit from sources that can’t readily be discerned. Born and raised in Crete, El Greco was trained as a Greek icon painter (in a post-Byzantine style). At the time he painted on Crete, Venice controlled the island. He left for Venice at age twenty-six, where he worked in Titian’s workshop and was influenced by Tintoretto’s loose brushwork.
He then traveled to Rome before settling in Toledo, Spain in 1577 to work for the Spanish King Philip II. He lived there until his death in 1614. Some of his contemporaries, like Friar Hortensio Félix Paravicino, commented on how his time in Toledo gave him his remarkable artistic abilities, “Crete gave him life, and Toledo his brushes….”¹ After his death, El Greco continued to inspire artists, including twentieth-century avant-garde artists like Pablo Picasso, who found inspiration in El Greco’s fluid distortions of the body.
The painting
El Greco’s Burial of the Count of Orgaz is monumental—more than 15 feet high—and depicts numerous figures in addition to the miraculous circumstances surrounding the burial of Don Gonzalo Ruíz.
Saints Augustine and Stephen holding the Count of Orgaz (detail), El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
At the bottom center, Saint Augustine (on the viewer’s right) and Saint Stephen (on the viewer’s left) hold the Count of Orgaz, who is dressed in armor. As they lower him into his tomb, we get the impression that they place his body into the physical tomb that exists in front of the painting in the burial chapel.
Titian, The Entombment of Christ, c. 1520, oil on canvas, 148 x 212 cm (Louvre, Paris)
This act is reminiscent of paintings showing the entombment of Christ, such as versions by Raphael or Titian, where Christ’s body is lowered into its grave. Perhaps El Greco adapted this subject for his painting to emphasize the solemn moment and the miraculous nature of the burial itself.
Earthly scene (detail), El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
Here on earth
Other religious figures in the lower scene include Franciscan, Augustinian, and Dominican friars. The parish priest of Santo Tomé, Andrés Núñez de Madrid (shown reading, far right), and other individuals who lived in late sixteenth-century Toledo are visible. The men dressed in black and decorated with red crosses belonged to the Order of Santiago (St. James the Greater), an elite military-religious order.
El Greco, Fray Hortensio Félix Paravicino, 1609, oil on canvas, 112.1 x 86.1 cm (The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
El Greco’s young son, Jorge Manuel, stands to the left of St. Stephen and points towards the saints lowering Orgaz’s body, leading our eye to the main subject. The figure directly behind and above Saint Stephen who looks out at viewer is a self-portrait. While El Greco was an accomplished portrait painter, as evidence by his painting of Friar Hortensio Félix Paravicino, the Burial of the Count of Orgaz is remarkable for the number of portraits included within such a complex composition.
It was customary for elite men to come to the burial of other nobles in Spain at this time, but why would El Greco include so many of his contemporaries in a painting ostensibly focused on a miraculous story about the Count of Orgaz? The answer can be found in the painting’s 1586 contract that stipulated that portraits be included to suggest that they witnessed the miracle. El Greco brilliantly combines portraits with saintly figures—the spiritual with the historical. Santo Tomé was El Greco’s parish church, so he likely included people he knew in the painting as a sign of respect.
Saint Stephen’s clothing showing a scene of his martyrdom (detail), El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
To help people feel like they were among their contemporaries, El Greco emphasized the naturalistic textures of the clothing, the reflective shine highlighting the metal armor, and even the faces and skin of the individuals in the earthly realm. Saint Stephen’s vestments are so detailed that we can see a scene of his martyrdom on the lower edge. Yet for all the naturalistic elements of this lower scene, it still seems mysterious. Are we outside at night? Are we inside the chapel? It is unclear. Nevertheless, the dark atmosphere heightens the sense of mourning and drama of the painting.
Just like heaven
The heavenly realm covers the upper half of the composition. We see many figures here as well, including both angels and saints—David with his harp, Peter with his keys, John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, and Christ. The Spanish King Philip II and Pope Sixtus V are also visible in this celestial realm.
Between Mary and Christ, an angel guides the Count of Orgaz’s small soul (what looks like a baby) upwards (a gesture common in Byzantine icons generally). The Count’s soul will be judged by Christ in Heaven, who presides over the entire scene. Anyone looking at the painting was reminded that judgment awaits them too.
Heaven (detail), El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
Heaven and earth
El Greco’s style differs between the two realms. In the upper heavenly realm, the artist used looser brushwork to give the figures a more ethereal and dynamic quality. He also chose cooler colors, including silvers and lilacs, that appear to shimmer and reflect light. The lower half of the canvas has a darker, more earth-tone palette (except saints Stephen and Augustine), giving it a more naturalistic appearance. Differences also exist between the way the figures in each realm are painted. Christ, Mary, and John the Baptist are more angular and elongated than those below. These figures are often described as dematerialized—less material or solid. We certainly get this impression from some of the wispy, insubstantial figures among the clouds.
Earthly scene (detail), El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
We get the sense of a solid group surrounding the burial of Orgaz. The figures are arranged as a frieze that moves across the bottom half of the painting with the heads forming a straight horizontal line, giving an impression of stability.
This differs from the heavenly realm, where the clouds arc upwards to creates a sense of motion and flux. These clouds and the way that El Greco uses them to define clusters of figures at differing heights helps to remove the heavenly realm from reality and to provide a sense of motion that contrasts with the more static scene below.
Figures gazing upwards to heaven (detail), El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586–88, oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm (Santo Tomé, Toledo)
Even though the celestial and earthly realms are divided, El Greco links them to create a unified painting. Staffs and torches held by men on earth rise upwards, crossing the pictorial threshold between heaven and earth. Figures gaze upwards to heaven, encouraging us to lift our eyes as well. Certain figures also echo one another across the threshold of the two spheres. Mary and John the Baptist gather at Christ’s feet, leaning inwards—not unlike saints Stephen and Augustine holding the Count of Orgaz’s body.
Counter-Reformation artist
The mid-to-late sixteenth century was the era of the Counter Reformation, with Toledo as a staunch bastion of Catholic Christendom. At the Council of Trent (1545–63), the importance of saints as intercessors was defended in the wake of Protestant attacks. El Greco’s painting, made only two decades later, with its depiction of saints in both the earthly and heavenly realms, strongly reaffirms the spirit of the Counter Reformation and beautifully captures El Greco’s ability to pair the mystical and the spiritual with the life around him.
