Description

Although this painting features the bold highlights, elongated figures, and vibrant colors characteristic of El Greco’s late career, the artist enlisted his workshop to execute some parts of the scene according to his original design. The heads of the figures reflect the work of different artists, probably including the artist’s son, Jorge Manuel, a leader of the workshop in its later years. The fantastical architectural background is unlike any other by El Greco and may have been conceived by an assistant.

Provenance

Possibly in the artist’s possession at the time of his death, 1614 [three versions of this subject were recorded in the 1621 inventory of all the goods owned by El Greco’s son, Jorge Manuel Theotocopoulos, who was his father’s sole heir; however, no work of this subject appears in El Greco’s own estate inventory; see San Román 1927]; possibly by descent to his son, Jorge Manuel Theotocopoulos (d. 1631), Toledo [the 1621 inventory of Jorge Manuel’s possessions, transcribed in San Román 1927, includes entries for three versions of this subject, listed as items 123–25].. Probably Guinea, Bilbao.4 Plasencia, Bilbao, before 1908 [according to Cossío 1908; this information cannot be verified, however]. Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Wagram, Paris, by 1908 [Cossio 1908 and Mayer 1926]; Galerie H. O. Miethke, Vienna, by 1911 Mayer 1911, p. 84]; sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, by 1914 [Kehrer 1914, p. 93; Mayer 1914]. Joseph Winterbotham, Jr., Burlington, Vt., Feb. 7, 1929 [Art News 1929]; on loan to the Art Institute in 1930 [Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 1930]; acquired by the Art Institute as a purchase of the Winterbotham Fund, 1949.