| I have wanted to visit Toledo for at | | | | remains in Toledo. But in the city's San |
| least forty years and for one particular | | | | Tomé church, still in the place for |
| reason, being the canvases of Domenicos | | | | which it was conceived, is the painter's |
| Theotokopoulos, or El Greco as we have | | | | masterpiece, the Burial of Señor |
| learned to call him. Well, now I have | | | | Orgaz. It's so well known that the |
| been and I found what I sought, plus a | | | | experience of standing before it might |
| truly amazing and unexpected surprise. | | | | provoke déjà vu or anti-climax but, |
| Toledo is one of those celebrity tourist | | | | like all true masterpieces, it |
| destinations that defy categorization. | | | | transcends even its own reputation by |
| It was a trading centre in Roman times. | | | | offering much more than its expectation. |
| It was the Visigoth's capital in what we | | | | Painted in 1586, it depicts the |
| still call the Dark Ages. It became a | | | | interment of a medieval knight, a |
| splendid, rich, cosmopolitan, | | | | resident of Toledo, philanthropist and |
| multi-faith trading city and artistic | | | | benefactor of the Sane Tomé church. |
| centre under Muslim rule. The Christian | | | | In the foreground, Señor Orgaz's body |
| era saw the construction and decoration | | | | is laid to rest. Meanwhile, towards the |
| of the institutions and monuments that | | | | top, his soul is admitted to heaven. |
| now comprise the city's current iconic | | | | Across the entire width of the picture a |
| identity. And, after the period of | | | | line of mourners faces serves to |
| relative decline that affected all of | | | | separate the worldly lower half from the |
| Spain, it is now one of the world's most | | | | heavens above. Each person is a unique |
| visited tourist venues whilst retaining | | | | individual, each offering a different |
| its own, highly dignified life. | | | | emotional and perhaps political response |
| Its setting is superb. Almost surrounded | | | | to the burial. In the swirling heavens |
| by the Rio Tajo, the outcrop towers over | | | | above, human gravity has no place. |
| the gorge. And it is topped by a mass of | | | | There, everything glows with a cool |
| buildings, each of which seems to state | | | | white light, perhaps suggesting cascades |
| its own competitive claim to grandeur. | | | | of water rather than flights of passion. |
| Few of them can challenge the sheer | | | | And it's the row of human heads, with |
| scale of either the Alcazar or the | | | | their intellects perhaps combined, that |
| cathedral. The former is much | | | | forms the boundary between the material |
| reconstructed and rebuilt after being | | | | world below and the ethereal heavens |
| fought over many times, but its vast | | | | above. A true Renaissance message. |
| scale alone impresses, and surely, | | | | There are other El Greco originals and |
| courtesy of El Greco's painted | | | | several copies elsewhere in the city, in |
| cityscapes, is one of the most | | | | Santo Domingo Antiguo, the cathedral, |
| recognizable buildings one earth. The | | | | Santa Cruz museum and Tavera museum. |
| cathedral, on the other hand, is both | | | | Perhaps only the artist himself knows |
| monumental and aesthetically pleasing. | | | | why so many of the people in his |
| Its pictures include El Greco portraits | | | | paintings have pointed noses. But if all |
| of the saints and an amazing, near | | | | Toledo had to offer was the Burial of |
| cubist Madonna by Morales. One chapel | | | | Señor Orgaz it would still demand a |
| has portraits of all the archbishops who | | | | visit. |
| have reigned there. The treasury has | | | | The other venue with El Greco paintings |
| five hundred years of their robes. And | | | | is the Casa del Greco, but this is |
| the ambulatory behind the altar has some | | | | closed for restoration. There are a |
| of their cardinal's hats hanging from | | | | couple of very well known paintings in |
| the ceiling. Apparently they are hung | | | | that collection, notably a view of the |
| over the owner's tombs and remain there | | | | city with a map, so they have been |
| until they rot. The hats, that is. | | | | re-housed in the nearby Victorio Macho |
| There's an interesting point to be made | | | | museum. |
| about a visit to one of the town's | | | | Given my motivation for visiting Toledo, |
| smaller buildings, the Synagogue of | | | | I doubt whether I would have made the |
| Santa Maria la Blanca. The period of | | | | Victorio Macho museum a priority. He's a |
| Muslim rule was marked by great | | | | twentieth century sculptor, born in |
| tolerance. Though the different | | | | Palencia, Spain, and who spent many |
| religious communities had their own | | | | years in Peru. It was the El Greco |
| areas of the city, Christians, Jews and | | | | paintings, re-housed there, that drew |
| Muslims built their own churches, | | | | me, but I left having experienced one of |
| synagogues and mosques. But after the | | | | those wonderful surprises that renders a |
| re-conquest, Christianity asserted its | | | | particular trip not just memorable but |
| dominant and normative creed and | | | | etched in the mind, never to be |
| everything except the churches was | | | | forgotten. Macho's work is astoundingly |
| suppressed. So the synagogue became a | | | | beautiful. There are bronzes, stonework |
| church. An altarpiece was erected in | | | | and drawings. His series of self |
| front of the holy wall and arches were | | | | portraits is masterful, the face full of |
| bricked up so that Christian paintings | | | | doubt, but its representation a model of |
| could be added. And since the Christians | | | | expression and confident technique. A |
| actually did not believe that Jews and | | | | female nude from the back entitled The |
| Muslims had actually converted, a Holy | | | | Guitar is memorable, to say the least. |
| Inquisition was established was | | | | But the most stunning piece was the one |
| established to identify dissenters. It | | | | a fellow visitor described as just like |
| was not long after this turbulent period | | | | her grandmother. A small old woman |
| that el Greco arrived in Toledo. | | | | dressed entirely in black sits alone |
| Domenicos Theotokopoulos left Crete to | | | | with her head ever so slightly bowed. |
| train as an artist in Venice. By 1577 he | | | | The head and hands are white. Her |
| had settled in Toledo and there he | | | | expression at first seems detached, at |
| stayed. His unique style, a blend of | | | | least contemplative, perhaps rather |
| high Renaissance, Orthodox Church | | | | aloof and judgmental. But it changes. A |
| iconography and emerging Mannerism is | | | | hint of a smile appears as you study her |
| both instantly recognizable and | | | | face. And then the sculpture seems to |
| supremely expressive. His use of light - | | | | suggest the woman's entire life. She is |
| or often lack of it, since he often | | | | simultaneously old and young, with the |
| painted in the dark - gives his canvases | | | | contrast of white flesh and black |
| a strangely ethereal whiteness which so | | | | clothes suggesting youth and age. And |
| often seems to stress the humanity and | | | | it's all there in that enigmatic face. |
| therefore vulnerability of his subjects. | | | | So having found in Toledo the experience |
| El Greco's work, of course, is | | | | I sought, an experience of a quality I |
| represented in major collections | | | | had expected, the works of Victorio |
| throughout the world and, it could be | | | | Macho provided the surprise which made |
| argued, the collection in the Prado far | | | | the visit utterly memorable. |
| exceeds in importance and sensation what | | | | |