El Greco was a prominent painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. El Greco was born in Crete, which was at that time part of the Republic of Venice, and at 26 travelled to Venice to study. In 1570 he moved to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works. During his stay in Italy, El Greco enriched his style with elements of Mannerism and of the Venetian Renaissance. In 1577 he emigrated to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death. In Toledo El Greco received several major commissions and produced his best known paintings. El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the 20th century. El Greco is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, while his personality and works were a source of inspiration for poets and writers such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Nikos Kazantzakis. El Greco has been characterized by modern scholars as an artist so individual that he belongs to no conventional school. He is best known for tortuously elongated figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, marrying Byzantine traditions with those of Western civilization.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1839: The Royal Marines landed at Aden to stop pirates from attacking British shipping to and from India. Aden remained under British control until 1967. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden)
1917: World War I: The Zimmermann Telegram was dispatched. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram)
1935: Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs, a new style of men's undergarment. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briefs) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undergarment)
1977: Iva Toguri, allegedly a Tokyo Rose, was granted a full pardon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iva_Toguri_D%27Aquino)
1983: Apple Computer introduced the Apple Lisa, their first commercial personal computer with a graphical user interface and a computer mouse. It had 1 MB of RAM, and was priced at US $9,995. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lisa)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got. -- Art Buchwald (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Art_Buchwald)