Chic Destinations

Hidden Art: Toledo

“Crete gave him his life, and brushes; Toledo, a better land, where he begins with Death to attain Eternity.” In these words Toledan poet Fray Hortensio Paravicino summed up the strong relationship the great artist El Greco had with the small Spanish city he made his home. In Toledo, just 70 kilometres south of Madrid, El Greco was inspired to produce some of his best known works. His Impressionist style became more intense, the colour – always vivid – became super-concentrated and both his highly individualised subjects and landscapes took on a more haunting quality.

Of the landscapes painted by El Greco, only two survive, and both are of Toledo. View of Toledo, with its extraordinary sky, can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Museo Del Greco in Toledo is home to the other, View and Plan of Toledo. Both have a suitably Spanish intensity with their charged colours and a crackling energy that still bursts forth from brushstrokes painted centuries ago.

Toledo is also home to El Greco’s best-known work, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, which within its vast scale depicts the heavenly above and the terrestrial below. The painting remains in the chapel for which it was ordered, in the church of Santo Tomé, which boasts a 14-century tower that is one of the finest examples of Mudéjar architecture in the city. If you happen to be at Las Rozas Village and want to explore beyond the bustle of Madrid it’s worth a trip to Toledo just enjoy the art and architecture of this one building.

It would be a shame however, not to spend a bit more time exploring the city, which has a rich history and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. At the time El Greco moved to Toledo, it was the religious centre of Spain, and a populous city with an illustrious past and a prosperous future ahead of it. El Greco himself lived in considerable style, often employing musicians to play as he dined. The Museo Del Greco has an extensive collection of his paintings and is located in Toledo’s Jewish Quarter. One of its buildings is a 16th century house with a courtyard, and in this and in the surrounding streets, it’s easy to get a sense of the city as it was in El Greco’s day.

The Jewish Quarter itself is an integral part of Toledo’s Historical Quarter, where the ancient streets are lined with a palpable sense of the past. There’s a poignancy here too, for both Jews and Muslims were expelled from Toledo, which, prior to this act, was well known for religious harmony and tolerance, with Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities living, working and co-existing together.

Two buildings retain the atmosphere of repeated religious ritual to this day – the Synagogue of El Tránsito and the Catedral de Toledo. Both are architecturally notable. The former features polychrome stucco-work, Hebrew inscriptions of the names of God, multifoil arches and Mudéjar panelled ceiling; while the latter is remarkable for its incorporation of light and features the Baroque altar called El Transparente. This is several stories high, a masterpiece of medieval mixed media with multiple colours of marble, fantastical stucco figures, bronze castings and paintings, all lit up for a few minutes each day by a shaft of light from which this feature derives its name.

In comparison, the charming Cistercian convent where El Greco is buried is relatively modest. Dating from the early Renaissance, this atmospheric church is still home to some of his paintings. His coffin can be glimpsed through the glass panel that covers the entrance to the crypt, just a few metres away from the enduring work this Crete-born artist created when he was a citizen of Toledo.

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