Portrait of Charles de Guise, cardinal of Lorraine, archbishop of Reims
El Greco·1572
Historical Context
El Greco's Portrait of Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine of around 1572, depicts the leading figure of the French Catholic League whose activities during the Wars of Religion made him one of the most controversial ecclesiastical politicians of the century. Charles de Guise had participated in the negotiations surrounding the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, and his image carried the full weight of that catastrophe. El Greco painted this portrait during his Roman years, and the cardinal's combination of political power and religious office gave him material for his characteristic study in ecclesiastical psychology.
Technical Analysis
The portrait shows the influence of Roman and Venetian portraiture in its warm palette and dignified composition, before El Greco's mature Spanish style had fully developed.
