The sun., 1910-01-09


Of st. Vinoente.. Toledo. His chalk
whites. poisonous greens. violet shadows
discordant passages OF lighting are. a.
Arthur Symons puts IL, sharp and dir,
gray and green. the color Of Tolado
Greco composed his palette with whit.
vermilion. lake. yellow ochrs. ivory blac.
Senior Beruste remarks that -he Eenersllv
laid on an impasto for his desh. pus on
in little touches and not overdOne; he then
added n few definite strokes with IT,
brush which though accented are vsrv
delicate"
His human forms became more elon-
gated as he aged. This applies only 10
his males; his women are OF kwectre.,
compounded and graceful FIN contour.
Some Of his figures are a mere arabesoue.
some living flames. sinister and often
fantastic-from the sublime to the sillv
10 with Greco not a wide stride. But in
all his surging, writhing sen of wraiths
saints, kings. damned souls and blest. a
cerebral grip is manifest. He knew N
hawk from a handsaw despite his tenn
perament of a mystic. He who carries
his own most intimate emotions to their
highest point becomes the first in a file Of
a long series Of men: but. adds Mr.. Ellis;
-to be leader of men one must turn ones
back on men," FL Greco. like Charles
Baudelaire. cultivated his hysteria; he
could have said with Antoninus: swhat-
ever happens / must be emerald He
was ever emerald. ever himself. He de-
veloped his individuality to the border
line across which looms madness. The
transmogrihcation OF his temperament
after living in Toledo was profound. Born
a Greek (Candia. Crate. 15t7), in art q
Venetian, the atmosphere Of the Castilian
plain changed the color Of his soul. In
him there was material enough for a
Savonarola or a Torquemada; his piety
was both iconoclastic and fanatical. And
his restlessness. his ceaseless experiments.
his discoveries Of now tonalities. his SER
pentining line. his sense OF mystic gran
deur-why. here we have. II you will,
Berlioz Of painters. a man OF cold ardors.
hot ecstasies. visions apocalyptic. with
brain like gloomy cathedral in which the
Tuba Mirum is chanted sonorously. But
Greco is on the side Of the angels; Berlioz.
like Goya. too often joined in the internal
antiphonies Of Satan Mekdtrig. And Greco
Is as dramatic al either.
Beruete admits that his idol velasquez.
was affected by the study Of Fl Grecos
coloring. r. A. NJ. Stevenson does not
admire this Toledan. He writes in his
-velasquez": while Velasquez reprieved
with age and practice. Greco was rather
inclined to get rotten with facility
Camille Saint-SaSns when Liszt and
Rubinstein were compared exclaimed:
Two great artists who have nothing In
common except their superiority" II
is bootless to bracket velasquez with bis
elder; Velasquez saw the world by day
light. Greco in nocturnal visions. Gautier
was of the track when he spoke Of Grecos
to Mrs. Radcliffe and her
bizarre romances bizarre Greco was.
but not trivial or a charlatan.
In the Prado Museum there is a goodly
collec ton. The Annunciation," -The
Holy Family" Jesus Christ Dead, The
Baptism OF Christ" THE Resurrection
The Crucifixion"--a tremendous con-
The Coming of the Holy
Ghost; this latter with its tongues ot
fire, its Pickering torches, its ecstatic
Apostles and Mary, her face flooded by
a supernal illuminate stirs nightly
the aesthetic pulse. The Pado has two
dozen specimens, though two Of them
at least-a poor replica OF the orgaz
burial and another are known to be by
~ Greco's son. Jorge Manuel Theototo-
copuli. OF the numerous portraits and
other pictures dispersed by time and
chance to the four quarters Of the globe,
we have written when reviewing in these
columns the defnitive work on the Greek
by Senior Manuel B. Cossio. Fl Greco
sheer intensity Of temperament
and fierce sincerity could pluck out from
men who had become. because of their
apathy and grotesque pride. mere vege-
table growths. their very souls afirs;
or il stained by crimes. these souls. he
shot them up to God like green meteors.
To be sure they have eyes drunk with
dreams. the pointed skull OF the mystic.
betray a plentiful lack Of chin. and an
nature. When old his saints
him; when young he must have
hooked like his saints. Sebastian and
With his ardent faith he could
have confuted the Gnostio or the Mani
chean heresies in colorful allegory, but
he sang fervid hosannahs on his canvases
TO the greater glory Of Christ and His
saints. Not Blake. not ManteGna bore
such witness TO the Word. Perhaps II he
had lived in our times he might have
painted heads Of fashionable courtesans
or edtiivocal statesmen. But whether
primitive or modern. realist or symbolist.
he would always have been a painter Of
dramatic genius. He 10 the unicorn
among artists. and it is TO be hoped that
ha uv;Il hava M follo~ara 3