Pentecost

On this Pentecost Sunday I thought I’d conclude our El Greco week with this magnificent canvas from collection of the Prado Museum.

This work depicts the moment when the Holy Ghost, in the form of flames, rests on the Virgin and the Apostles on Pentecost day in Jerusalem, as is told in the book of Acts (2: 1-5). The bald, bearded Apostle who looks out at the viewer from the right of the canvas has been identified as a self-portrait, or as a portrait of the artist´s friend, Antonio de Covarrubias.

This work was painted as part of a 1596 commission to paint the high altar of the Colegio de la Encarnación (Madrid), an Augustinian seminary better known by the name of its founder, Doña María de Córdoba y Aragón (1539-1593). The signature is on the second step, in Greek letters. It was redone during an old restoration.

El Greco painted the scenes in small spaces, emphasizing the vertical format, and bathing them in a ghostly light that enhances the unreality of the figures, which are arranged in a very marked foreshortening and have very expressive features. The colours-cold, intense and contrasting- are applied very loosely over powerful anatomical constructions, and are perfect examples of El Greco’ s highly personal style in the final years of his career.