El Greco: View of Toledo

El Greco was born in Crete, which was at that time part of the Republic of Venice and the center of Post-Byzantine art. He trained and became a master within this tradition before following the steps of other Greek artists and traveling at age 26 to Venice. In 1570 he moved to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works. During his stay in Italy, he enriched his style with elements of Mannerism and of the Venetian Renaissance. After seven years he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death; and it was there that he produced his best-known paintings.

View of Toledo, one of only two surviving landscapes by the artist, is considered one of the great landscapes in Spanish art, resonant with meaning and poetic force. El Greco rearranged the topography of Toledo to express his apocalyptic vision of the City of God, distorting the natural to emphasize the supernatural. The clouds above the city and the dark colors give the painting an atmosphere of stark drama, and the sinuous composition leaves the viewer tense with unrest. The cathedral stands erect in the distance, herald to the coming storm and witness to this dialogue between heaven and earth.