“The Burial of Count Orgaz” analysis

The Burial of Count Orgaz is a painting by famous renaissance artist El Greco. The painting is sixteen by eleven feet and was drawn with oil on canvas. The painting depicts a burial scene of Count Orgaz and a heaven scene with Christ above them. This painting is the most intriguing for El Greco’s use of two focal points. In El Greco’s career The Burial of Count Orgaz is widely accepted as his greatest work. In describing the painting itself it is divided into two sections, one being a burial scene of Count Orgaz in the lower half portion of the artwork, and a scene of heaven with Christ and the saints swirling overhead among thin silky clouds. The two distinct sections of this artwork give the painting two focal points, which the eyes are drawn towards. The section of the artwork depicting heaven has Christ as a focal point, he is centered at the very top of the painting with virtually every figure around him looking up with some motioning towards him. Christ is dressed in white robe, and the figures surrounding Christ vary from Saints to musicians, angles, multitudes of followers, and the Virgin Mary. The figures all seem to be swirling among silky clouds around Christ which gives each figure a distinct position and proportion in the painting, some closer up and distinctive, other more further away and faded. The burial scene directly below the heavens has the Count Orgaz as the focal point and he is positioned near the lowest part of the painting and perpendicular to Christ. The mourners around the Count Orgaz are dressed in formal coats of black and all are similarly positioned in the background. The Count Orgaz himself is richly dressed in the foreground, in plates of black armor with gold ornations, and he is being lowered by two priests who are dressed in bright golden garbs with slight patterns of red. When looking at some of the elements of The Burial of Count Orgaz the first thing someone would notice is the lacking sense of space. You don’t see sky, earth, horizon there is just pure substance. This lacking since of space can be seen from the figures in the painting. The proportions of the majority of the figures are the same throughout the painting, which gives little feel of distance between the heaven and burial scenes. The priest in the lower right portion of the burial scene is seen holding a bible in one hand, and a crucifix staff in the other. The staff remains in the foreground yet its height makes it seem to be touching the lowest part of the clouds. In addition a yellow robe from an angel at the lowest point of the heaven portion is so close to the group mourning figures in the background that it appears to touch one of them. The only real since of space you can see are some of the figures in the heaven scene that are at the further most of each side of the painting. The scale is just slightly smaller than any of the figures in the foreground but the change is still very noticeable. Space is only one of the elements that stand out when observing The Burial of Count Orgaz; another is the use of colors. The colors used by El Greco are as different as are the two scenes of his painting. The burial scene uses somber dark toned colors for the figures in the background, and much brighter colors in the figures of the foreground. There are three priests in the foreground that are colored in bright gold robes. If you look closely on each priest robe are pictures of biblical figures and scenes that are extremely detailed for such a small purpose for the overall painting. There are hints of red throughout the burial scene, from the priest’s robes to several mourners that have red symbols on their coats. One figure does seem to surprisingly stand out in the burial scene due to his gray robe. A figure which appears to be a monk off to the left corner of the painting gazes down at the body of Count Orgaz. The two priest toward the middle of the painting command the most eye attention, yet the lone figure still stands out despite such a neutral color, is due to a nearly complete black background. In contras the colors of the heaven scene are brighter yet softer toned pallet of blues, hues of white, yellows, and grays with splashes of red. The clouds are drawn in thin, bluish grey sheets of silk and they flow in a semicircular pattern below Christ. Christ himself is drawn in mostly pure white with a brown beard, and behind him is a faded light of yellow. The figures surrounding Christ are all dressed in robes and the colors used are mostly yellow and blue of the same soft hue. The only exception being the Virgin Mary who stands out more than the others because her robes are much richer shade of blue as well as red. When observing The Burial of Count Orgaz an important element to notice is the use of lines. El Greco’s painting is drawn mostly of people yet there are some things to take note. In the heaven scene literally every line that you see is curved. There are no straight or geometric lines at all. The actual top half of the artworks frame is in a semicircle, so again no straight lines. Unlike the heaven scene, in the burial scene you see many straight lines and geometric shapes. The torches the mourners carry, and the staff the priest holds has perfectly straight lines. The priest robes have many geometric shapes as well as ornate patterns. For instance on the priest left on Count Orgaz his sleeve has shapes of squares stars and straight lines. In order to fully appreciate the The Burial of Count Orgaz it is important to know some of its meaning and history. El Greco was commissioned to do the painting by Andres Nunez, the Parrish priest of Santo Tome. The Count of Orgaz was known for his charitable acts and when he died he left a large sum of money for the adornment of Santa Tome. Legend has it that when Count Orgaz died, Saint Stephen and Saint Augustine came from the heavens and buried him; hence the illustration for El Greco’s painting. Count Orgaz was not the only real person to be in the painting, the mourners in the background of the burial are many noblemen from the town of Toledo. So this painting by El Greco was a tribute not only Count Orgaz but also for the towns noblemen. After having observed all the aspects of The Burial of Count Orgaz I have come to several points about the painting. First being the use of two focal points, it intrigued me as my eyes were continuously looking from one point of the painting to the other. Second I liked how space is used, El Greco painted it so that the observer had no sense of real space or distance. Last, I enjoyed the observing and writing about the painting and I think it deserves the title of being El Greco’s finest artwork.