EL GRECO From Italy to Toledo

SUPPORT

Click here to make zoom on the image.

The support of this work by El Greco is also a lined canvas, like the preceding work. The original canvas is not of the type usually employed in Italy. El Greco came to Spain and began to use a plain-weave cloth more typical of the Renaissance period in this country. In this case the fibres are hemp, which is unusual as flax was normally used to make canvases. Like the rest of the works in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, this piece was lined during restoration with a single piece of plain-weave canvas attached to the back.
The original edges have been lost, and we therefore do not know the work’s original measurements as its deteriorating condition required the addition of the aforementioned lining canvas. The original canvas currently measures 110 x 62 cm, but with the additions the dimensions of the entire work are 114 x 67 cm.
The characteristics of the original cloth could only be revealed by X-ray imaging, as it was concealed on the front by layers of paint, and on the back by the lining.
The adjustable stretcher is made of pine and has two diagonal crossbars, a key at each point where the central crossbar meets the stretcher and double keys in the corners.