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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1563.jpg'> 
El Greco: 400th Anniversary of Death 
Scott 1563 (2014) 
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April 7 marks the anniversary of the death of El Greco. Vatican City issued the stamp shown above in 2014 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death.
 
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco (a nickname meaning “The Greek”), was born in 1541 on the island Crete, which at that time was part of Republic of Venice. He studied art in Crete, and later moved to and worked in Venice, where some of his contemporaries included the artists Tintoretto and Titian. He later moved to Rome.
 
El Greco developed a unique and personal style of painting, using a freer brush stroke and more vivid colors. It has been described as a “tamed chiaroscuro”, a bold style popularized by Caravaggio which featured striking contrasts between light and dark.
 
El Greco is best known for his work following his relocation to Toledo, in Spain, around 1577. It was here that he completed many of his best-known works, including The Assumption, Pentecost, Christ in the Garden, The Apocalypse, The Apostles, and View of Toledo. His work has sometimes been described as “pre-Baroque” and as expressing realism, as opposed to the more classic designs of the early Renaissance.
 
The 0,85-euro commemorative stamp shown at the top of this article reproduces a section of a small painting of the face of Jesus Christ. The work is found in the Vatican Museum collection located in the Apostolic Palace, an area which is not open the public.
 
El Greco is associated with three other stamps issued by Vatican City: a stamp from the 1970 series honoring the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI (Scott 490, which depicts the same painting as that used for the stamp shown at the top of this article), a stamp from the 1971 issue celebrating the 800th anniversary of the birth of Saint Dominic de Guzman (Scott 512), and a stamp which pictures his work Pentecost, issued in 1975 to commemorate that holy day on the Christian calendar (Scott 572):
 
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<img height='200' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/490.jpg'>
<img height='200' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/512.jpg'>
<img height='200' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/572.jpg'> 
 
Stamps with Works by El Greco: 
Christ, Scott 490 (1970) 
Saint Dominic de Guzman, Scott 512 (1971) 
Pentecost, Scott 572 (1975)</center>
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>James C. Hamilton, Vatican Notes, Volume 62, Issue 361, 2014, pp. 4-6, <a href='https://www.vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=62-361-04-05&r=0'>New Issues: May-2014</a> 
<li>UFN, May 20, 2014, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/2014-2-07-1.jpg'>400th Anniversary of the Death of El Greco</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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