A new exhibition begins March 14th at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo

 “El Greco in the Mirror: Two Paintings Compared”

“El Greco in the Mirror: Two Paintings Compared” is the title of the exhibition inaugurated on Saturday, March 14, at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo.

The exhibition aims to compare two masterpieces by the artist from Candia. One is an unpublished painting, The Redeemer (45 × 29 cm), preserved in the Hall of the Ambassadors of the Pontifical Audience Apartment of the Apostolic Palace; the other is a small tempera on panel (28 × 20 cm) depicting Saint Francis, loaned by the A. and M.A. Pagliara Foundation of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples. The exhibition has been curated by Fabrizio Biferali, Head of the Department for 15th–16th Century Art of the Vatican Museums.

The Redeemer was attributed as early as 1970 to El Greco in José Camón Aznar’s catalogue Dominico Greco. It belonged to the collection of the Catholic intellectual and politician José Sánchez de Muniáin in Madrid, who donated it on 5 June 1967 to Pope Paul VI. The small tempera on panel on display, signed in Greek capital letters DOMÉNIKOS THEOTOKÓPOULOS EPOÍEI, combines the Byzantine tradition with the innovations of the mature Italian Renaissance.