Artist in Focus: El Greco

Monday 20th November 6.00PM GMT

INTRODUCTION

Join us for an in-depth exploration of the life and work of El Greco, one of the most unusual, original and visionary painters of his age, in a lecture which complements a major exhibition at the Palazzo Reale, Milan this autumn. The lecture will be given by Art History in Focus director, Siân Walters.

Born and trained in Crete, El Greco enjoyed success in Venice and Rome and then in 1577 settled in Toledo, Spain. Here he spent the rest of his life, producing works characterised by astonishing exaggerations of form, distortions of proportion and bold, brooding colours.  Many of these paintings can still be seen in their original location and we will examine some of these alongside works by El Greco now in public and private collections, explaining how their mystical appearance reveals a wide variety of sometimes surprising influences, and exploring to what extent they reflect the cultural, religious and socio-economic climate of Toledo in the early 17th century.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

This is a live-streamed lecture at 6.00pm (UK time).  It will last approximately one hour including Q&A. Tune in live from anywhere in the world, or if you cannot participate live, you will automatically be sent a recording soon after the end of the session enabling you to watch later that day or during the following 2 days. Please note, the recording is only available to those who have not been able to participate live, and it is not possible to purchase a recording after booking has closed.

Booking closes the day before the event is streamed. Please refer to the Further Information panel below.

Click here for details about the El Greco exhibition which runs from 13th October 2023 – 4th February  2024.

Click the link for a list of works in the exhibition and click here for a short introduction to the exhibition.

You can also download our further reading suggestions here.

 

Further Information


1. BOOK.

Click on the gold “Book Now” button, fill in the online booking form and pay online. You will be notified automatically by email once your booking has been accepted.

Please ensure you enter your email address correctly, as your Zoom link will be sent to this address, thank you.

The participation fee is £10 per person, if making bookings for a number of people please provide their email addresses when booking them as separate participants.

2. DOWNLOAD

Download ZOOM once you have booked – please print/download the instructions in this downloadable link and read them carefully. Zoom works best when using Google Chrome.

3. REGISTER

You will receive an email approximately 24-48 hours in advance of the event asking you to register.** This is a privacy function enabling only registered participants to attend. After registering you will automatically receive the Zoom log in link both on your screen and by email, please keep this safe.

** Please note that these details are sent out in office hours, so if you book on a weekend you may not receive them until Monday. You must register with the same name that you have booked under, otherwise you may not be able to watch. If you have not received your email confirmations, please check your ‘deleted items’ and ‘junk mail’ folders or click here for advice.

4. JOIN

Join the event a few minutes before it is scheduled to start, to ensure everything is working.

If you are not able to watch at the time it is live-streamed, you can still book online, as above. You do not need to advise us if you can’t participate live, don’t worry! You will be contacted soon after the event has been broadcast with instructions on how to access the recording. This will be available to watch on catch up later that day and for the following 2 days. Please note, the recording is only available to those who have not been able to participate live, and it is not possible to purchase a recording after booking has closed.

Please refer to our Terms and Conditions for booking this event. We regret that we are unable to offer technical support with Zoom but tips can be found in the attachment. If you would like to book more than one event, please book separately for each event that you would like to attend, thank you. If you are booking for more than one person, it is important that you include their email address so that we can send them the link too. We regret we are unable to offer refunds but don’t worry if you are not able to attend, as we will send you a recording.

Bookings close the day before the event is streamed.

Image: El Greco, Christ Driving The Money Changers from the Temple, c.1570-75. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts Image: Google Art Project