El Greco

the long version

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz is a key work in the Mannerist tradition and a supreme achievement of the human spirit. Like The Divine Comedy and the Eroica Symphony, it epitomizes an age, and any study of it has to probe deeply not only into the history of art but also into religion, society and psychology. It is appropriate therefore that a whole book should be devoted to this single painting - a painting whose subject is both particularized and universal. The painting is reproduced in all its glory in this magnificent book, bringing the reader face to face with its splendor, its rich colors and its incredible expressiveness. Shown in a series of specially commissioned photographs, it is illustrated first as a whole, and then in a series of enlarged details that magnify every minute embellishment and brushstroke.