Christ in Agony on the Cross
by GRECO, El, Oil on canvas, 104 x 62 cm
The Christ in Agony on the Cross, with a view of Toledo. Another - and finer - version is in the Museum of Art, Cleveland, but with part of the landscape cut away. Christ on the Cross is left alone ‘and there was a darkness over all the earth … and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst’ (St Luke, XXIII, 44-45), and he commends his spirit to His Lord. El Greco was in sympathy with the apocalyptical atmosphere of the theme. From the time of the San Jos� paintings, El Greco often chose to include a view of Toledo in his paintings. It is in no way a naturalistic view, but is transformed as all else in his painting.