Recently rediscovered El Greco masterpiece from Rome exhibited at MAN in Nuoro

Following the success of last year’s exhibition dedicated to the ideal dialogue between Giotto and Lucio Fontana, the MAN in Nuoro is offering a new, unprecedented project for Christmas 2024, centered on a comparison of two masterpieces by El Greco (Domínikos Theotokópoulos, 1541-1614), a celebrated Spanish Siglo de Oro artist. An undisputed master for his expressive style characterized by elongated figures, vivid colors, and rhythmic gestures, El Greco was called “the Delacroix of the Renaissance” and inspired artists such as Cézanne and Picasso.

Educated in Crete, then under Venetian rule, El Greco moved to Venice in 1567. Here he developed a new way of painting, away from the two-dimensional, abstract, immobile universe of the Oriental tradition, and refined his dramatic use of color and light under the influence of Titian, Tintoretto, and Jacopo Bassano.

After a period in Rome with Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, El Greco settled in Toledo, hoping to obtain the position of official court painter to King Felipe II, which, however, he was not granted. In the Spanish city, however, he found important commissions that allowed him to consolidate a style in which dynamic twists of bodies and sudden flashes emphasized the feelings and emotions of his figures.

For this exhibition, made possible thanks to a collaboration with theAccademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome, the MAN in Nuoro presents The Adoration of the Magi, a work by El Greco that remained unknown to the chronicles for centuries and was only recently restored to the authorship of the Cretan master after lengthy restoration and scientific investigation. The exhibition also includes the Blessing Savior, from the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia and recently exhibited at the Palazzo Reale in Milan in a retrospective dedicated to El Greco. The exhibition is enhanced by a documentary film produced by MAN and made by Stefano Conca Bonizzoni, with interventions by Claudio Strinati, Fabrizio Biferali and Fabio Porzio, which introduces visitors to the artist’s unique history and techniques.

Image: El Greco, Adoration of the Magi (c. 1570, oil on canvas) © Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome

Recently rediscovered El Greco masterpiece from Rome exhibited at MAN in Nuoro

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