The Despoiling of Christ also called The Disrobing, is a painting, painted by El Greco from 1577 to 1579. This painting was for the High Altar of the sacristy of the Cathedral of Toledo. It´s one of the most famous works of El Greco. The material used was oil on canvas and its dimensions are 285cm x 173 cm. Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco, was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. He was born in Crete. In 1570 he went to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works and he enriched his style. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, where he lived and worked until his death. In Toledo, El Greco received several major commissions and produced his best known paintings. El Greco´s style was dramatic and expressionistic and his personality and his works were a source of inspiration for poets and writers. The most important figure is in the middle part of the painting: Jesus Christ looking up to heaven with an expression of serenity, while he is being despoiled of his dress to be crucified. The people surrounding him are violent. The three Maries (Mary Magdalene and Mary of Cleopas and Mary, James´s mother, who accompanied Virgin Mary) appear on the lower left part. The colours represented are: -Bright red: it´s on the red tunic of Christ to represent the full expressive force and the symbol of the passion, because the moment represented is the previous to the crucifixion. -Purple: it´s a metonymic symbol of the divine passion, it´s spread out on in a light fold.
-Yellow and Blue: these colors are secondary, not as important as the red color, but they represent the importance of the soldiers. El Greco represents Christ as a man and not as a God, an innocent victim of human passions. His purpose is to enhance the importance of Christ, by painting him with bright colors (the head, the dress…) and the rest of the people are painted in dark colours. In order to make Christ´s figure more important, there are people not only on his right and left: they are also in the upper and lower part. It´s only a human scene. El Greco lived in Italy for some years where he learnt different styles, becoming an important Renaissance painter. He had a Byzantine formation. In Venice he drew the inspiration from Titian and Tintoretto styles, who belonged to the Venetian School. And his last influence was in Rome, from Michelangelo, using Mannerist elements. In El Greco first paintings the influence of their Italian masters is reflected. But soon he established his personal style with the use of Mannerist figures, very large, thin, very expressive, with own ghostly light, in indefinite environments and with a great contrast between colors. This feature was typical of the Venetian School. For this reason we can consider The Despoiling of Christ as a Renaissance work of art, because all those features are represented in it. The painter drew inspiration from a text of St. Bonaventure called “Meditations about Jesus Christ´s Passion”, but it didn´t satisfied the chapter of the cathedral. The chapter didn´t accept this composition because they considered that it was inappropriate and it made the history of Christ darker. There were also some mistakes: the Three Maries were not present in the despoiling. The Despoiling of Christ caused a lawsuit between the painter and the Cathedral representatives. El Greco only received 350 ducats when in reality he had to receive 950 ducats, but he didn´t have to change anything on the painting. Despite complaints of the Cathedral representatives El Greco had a great success. There are more copies of this painting, imitated by other artists. One of the copies is in the Prado Museum, signed by a son of El Greco. Although many copies were made, the best painting is the original one, because it represents the figures in a more realistic style.
REBECA GARCÍA OLIVARES 3ºA