Saint Martin and the Beggar
Domenico Theotokópoulos, called El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos; Greek, active in Spain, 1541–1614)
c. 1597–c. 1600
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 110 × 63 cm (43 5/16 × 24 13/16 in.); Framed: 133.4 × 85.7 × 10.2 cm (52 1/2 × 33 3/4 × 4 in.)
- Culture
- Greece
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey McCormick
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This painting is a small replica of an altarpiece for the private family chapel of San José in Toledo, Spain. Producing smaller versions of commissioned altarpieces allowed El Greco to introduce his creations to a wider market. The composition here includes elements that would have resonated with his audience: Saint Martin wears fashionable, contemporary armor, and the walls of Toledo are visible in the distant background. Martin was a popular saint during the period, when the Catholic Church was promoting acts of charity like the gift of his cloak to a beggar as necessary for earning salvation.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
