EL GRECO AND HIS SCHOOL

In the 25 years that have passed since the publication of the definitive catalogue of El Greco's work, new and authentic examples of his paintings have been discovered, and many attributed to him have proved to be wrongly identified. Prof. Wethey, of the University of Michigan, in this exhaustive study of El Greco brings up to date all available late. The first volume will have wider reader interest than the second, but collectors and will find the total work, with its 404 figures on 216 plates, invaluable. In the first volume he presents a critical history, a biographical sketch, an analysis of the parts played by various influences (Byzantine, Venetian and Italian Mannerist ) in El Greco's development. Particularly he has studied an often neglected aspect, his architecture in its relation to Italian origins. The second volume is first a minutely detailed catalogue of the authentic works, with documents and other , with studies of the and the signatures. Next it goes into many facets of the School Pieces, and other copies without proper attribution. For those particularly concerned with sources of information, Dr. Wethey assesses the bibliographical material available. For this reader, the biographical chapters held considerable interest, the careful approach to the known facts- and the anecdotes- regarding his youth, from his birth in Crete, in his early training under Titian in Venice, the influences brought to bear by other artists of this brilliant period in Venice and later in Rome, the various guesses as to his departure for Spain, and the factors contributing to his settling in Toledo where his fame came to full bloom. Brief space is given to the little known facts of his personal life, but the known data on his beloved son, , are included in the latter half of the work. Here assuredly is an important contribution not only to art history, but to placing El Greco in his times.