While El Greco is best known for his intense and spiritual religious paintings, he was also a perceptive and powerful portraitist. A skill we can observe in this portrait of Fray Paravicino, a close friend of the artist, who was an important theologian, orator, and poet.
Limiting the colors almost entirely to the black and white of the friar’s habit, El Greco created a subtle and compelling image that emphasizes psychological rather than physical presence. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts purchased this work in 1904 on the recommendation of John Singer Sargent, another great portraitist and an admirer of Spanish art.
🎨 El Greco (1541-1614), Fray Hortensio Félix Paravicino, 1609. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
The Arts of Golden Age Spain and the Hispanic World 