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El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) El Greco (painter) Greek, 1541 - 1614 Saint Jerome, c. 1610/1614 oil on canvas Overall: 168 x 110.5 cm (66 1/8 x 43 1/2 in.) framed: 194.3 x 137.2 x 6.4 cm (76 1/2 x 54 x 2 1/2 in.) Chester Dale Collection 1943.7.6 On View |
Object 7 of 8
Conservation Notes
The support is a heavy, plain-weave fabric, probably linen, lined to a moderately heavy plain-weave fabric. In 1929 pieces added by a later artist at the top, the bottom, and the right side were removed.[1] El Greco utilized a reddish-brown imprimatura. Oil paint was applied in moderately thick paste with brush strokes of low to moderate relief. There are significant losses of original paint on the saint's right thigh, the background to the left of the thigh, and in the sky at the upper left; smaller losses of paint are scattered throughout. The painting was cleaned and restored in 1988/1989. Discolored varnish and old repaint which concealed much of the brushwork on the torso and such details as the crucifix at the upper right were removed.
[1] The restoration is discussed briefly by Mayer 1930, 183. The additions
included a trumpet at the top and landscape at the bottom and right. With
the additions, the painting measured 215 x 120 (Cossío, 571, no. 113).
For an illustration of the painting before the additions were removed, see
(Cossío 1908, pl. 71. It is widely agreed that the added pieces were
not by El Greco (see, for example, Mayer 1926, 45, no. 281; Wethey 1962, 2:133, no. 249).
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