ABOUT

View of Toledo

Type of object

Clasificaciones

Descripción

View of Toledo, is one of the two surviving landscapes painted by El Greco. The other, View and Plan of Toledo lies at Museo Del Greco, Toledo, Spain. It is among the best known depictions of the sky in Western art, along with Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, some landscapes by William Turner, and some works by Monet. It features sharp color contrast between the sky and the hills below. Painted in a Mannerist (or Baroque) style, the work takes liberties with the actual layout of Toledo (some buildings are depicted in different positions than their actual location, though the Castle of San Servando is accurately depicted on the side). It is signed on the lower right corner by El Greco.

In this, his greatest surviving landscape, El Greco portrays the city he lived and worked in for most of his life. The painting belongs to the tradition of emblematic city views, rather than a faithful documentary description. The view of the eastern section of Toledo from the north would have excluded the cathedral, which the artist therefore imaginatively moved to the left of the Alcázar (the royal palace). Other buildings represented in the painting include the ancient Alcántara Bridge, and on the other side of the river Tagus, the Castle of San Servando

Creation

Subject / iconography

Measurements

121 x 109 cm

Inscriptions

  • Signed

Other titles / names

  • View of Toledo

Related

History