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.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Greco
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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'Aquino)
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)
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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)