Despite El Greco’s origin in Crete and his biography, the artist did not (apart from a few exceptions) take his subjects from the mythology of antiquity and did not draw his inspiration from the art of classical antiquity. A sofar neglected exception can be seen in the Purification of the Temple, a theme that El Greco first painted ca. 1570 (National Gallery of Art, Washington). The female figure in the background on the right of this painting was obviously inspired by one of the Horae, personifications of the seasons, known from a whole series of works of art from antiquity, specifically by the personification of Winter as seen on the “Campana” reliefs and related works. Both before and after El Greco, many artists took inspiration from this figure. El Greco himself painted the Purification several times in his career and with the course of time analogous figures in later versions gradually move away from the antique model and thus help us establish the relative chronology of El Greco’s Purifications of the Temple.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.