Free Republic

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, thieves broke into a parish church in the Sevillian town of Paradas, mistakenly stealing a replica of a painting by El Greco after believing it to be the original work. The incident occurred at the Church of San Eutropio, where both the authentic artwork and a publicly displayed copy are housed. The stolen piece was a replica of La Magdalena Penitente, a painting attributed to the 16th-century artist Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco. The original painting remains inside the church and was not removed, as it is kept behind protective iron bars...

A new investigation could end many of the speculations about the works of El Greco and the man himself. A hand-written annotation to a book, similar to the glosses of Saint Emilianus, found in Spain in a copy of Lives of the most excellent architects, painters and sculptors by Giorgio Vasari, has led Nicos Hadjinicolau, a researcher from the Institute of Mediterranean Studies, to conclude that the artist – contrary to popular belief– was a defender of Byzantine art.

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus (c. 1578), El Greco (1541-1614) "...God great exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in Heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2: 9-11) In illustrating this quote from an epistle of Saint Paul, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, popularly known as "El Greco," drew upon his Greek heritage and composed a painting that is both an exaltation of...