Saint Ildefonso

c. 1603/1614

El Greco

Painter, Greek, 1541 - 1614

A light-skinned man wearing a voluminous, ocean-blue, hooded robe sits at a cloth-draped writing table and looks up, fingers splayed over an open book and a pen held in his other hand, in this vertical painting. The man and desk take up most of the composition, which has an arched top. The man’s shoulders and body are angled to our right, and he looks off in that direction in profile. His balding head is rimmed with white hair curving over the large ear we can see, and he has a trimmed white and gray beard and mustache. His prominent nose is pointed, and his lips are closed. Light glints off the robe he wears so it shimmers in shades of topaz, aquamarine, and midnight blue. Voluminous white sleeves emerge under the mantle and are edged with narrow lace cuffs. His left hand, to our right, rests on an open book, which is propped against one or two other tomes. Near the edge of the table, two quills stand in the corners of a lidded inkwell, and a round, silver blotter, shaped like an upside-down chalice, and a lidded silver box sit nearby. The man’s chair has a tall post next to his shoulder to our left with a teardrop-shaped, gold finial. A second post, near his wrist, is lower and topped with a gold orb. The chair is draped in the same deep, raspberry-pink of the square table at which he sits. The tablecloth is edged with a wide band of gold along the bottom, and filigree-like gold decorations line the seams or folds at the corners. Brushstrokes are visible in many areas, especially in the colorfully charged blue and pink fabric. Beyond the man, to our right, a statuette of a person wearing a long, white robe over a white dress holds a baby. The clothing is edged with gold, and she wears a sphere-like gold crown. The baby also wears white and holds up one hand. The statuette stands on a platform supported by S-shaped corbels, and could have a projecting, squared awning over the top. This area is more loosely painted so some details are difficult to make out. In the background to our left, a wooden door stands open next to a dark space just behind the man’s head, so his profile is picked out against the shadow. The floor beneath is earth brown.

Media Options

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Ildefonso, whose name is more familiar in its Castilian form, Alfonso, was appointed archbishop of Toledo in 657 and later became that city's patron saint. He was especially famed for his book defending the purity of the Virgin, which he was said to have written at her dictation.

El Greco represented the saint in a richly decorated room, seated at a writing table furnished with costly silver desk ornaments consistent with the style of the artist's own time. The contemporary setting notwithstanding, an otherworldly aura pervades the room as the saint pauses in his writing and, as though awaiting the next word, gazes attentively at the source of his inspiration, a statuette of the Madonna. The combination of strangely compacted space, the chalky highlights that play over the saint's sleeves and the velvet tablecover, and, not least, Ildefonso's fervent expression, remove the scene to a spiritual realm.

El Greco's image of the Virgin resembles an actual wooden figure that Ildefonso is said to have kept in his oratory until it was given by him to the church of the Hospital of Charity in the small Spanish town of Illescas, near Toledo. The statuette is preserved there today together with El Greco's larger version of Saint Ildefonso.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/spanish-painting-15th-19th-centuries.pdf

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 28

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 112 x 65.8 cm (44 1/8 x 25 7/8 in.)
    framed: 135.4 x 89.9 x 6.7 cm (53 5/16 x 35 3/8 x 2 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.83

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably in the artist's possession at the time of his death in 1614;[1] his son, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli, Toledo, by 1621.[2] Presented 1698 to Carlos II [1661-1700] by Don Juan Varela Colima, the King's secretary and tax collector for the city and province of Toledo.[3] Condesa de Quinto, Paris; (sale, Paris, 1862, no. 64, as Un saint Évêque écrivant, les regards tournés vers l'image de la Sainte Vierge);[4] Alphonse Oudry; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16-17 April 1869, no. 139, as Prélat écrivant l'histoire de la Vierge, for 500 francs);[5] Jean-François Millet [1814-1875], Paris; his widow, Catherine Lemaîre Millet; (her estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24-25 April 1894, no. 261, as L'Évêque, for 2000 francs);[6] acquired by (Durand-Ruel, Paris) for Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Paris; [7] (his atelier sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 26-27 March 1918, 2nd day, no. 2, as Saint Ildefonso écrivant sous la dictée de la Vierge);[8] (M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York);[9] sold 7 February 1922 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.;[10] deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[11] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] The inventory of El Greco's estate made in 1614 includes the following item: "Un S. ilefonso escribiendo" ("A Saint Ildefonso writing"); see Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, El Greco en Toledo, Madrid, 1910: 193.
[2] The painting is listed in the inventory of 1621 as follows: "Un san Ylefonso bestido de cardenal escribiendo, de bara y terzia de alto y casi un bara de ancho, con quadro dorado" ("A Saint Ildefonso dressed as a Cardinal writing, a vara and a third in height and almost a vara in width, with a gilded frame"); see Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, "De la vida del Greco," Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 3 (1927): 70, n. 15. A vara, a traditional Spanish measurement, equals about 84 cm. Thus, the painting was said to be 112 cm tall and almost 84 cm wide.
[3] Relación del magestuoso recibimiento y entretenido cortejo de una fiesta de toros celebrada en honor de Carlos II y su esposa en Burguillos en una casa de recreación de D. Juan Varela Colima, secretario de S. M. y recaudador de los servicios de millones de Toledo y su partido...3 de junio de 1698, Madrid, 1698. The relevant passage is transcribed in Francisco J. Sánchez Cantón, Fuentes para la historia del arte español, 5 vols., Seville and Madrid, 1923-1941: 5:509-510. The presentation is described as follows: "A la Reina se ofrecieron doce albanicas de láminas primorísimas y al Rey una pintura de vara y media de alto, original del célebre Dominico Greco, que representaba a San Ildefonso con nuestra Señora, objectos predeilectísimos de la devoción de Carlos II..." ("To the Queen were presented twelve fans with exquisitely decorated blades and to the King a painting a vara and one-half in height [i.e., about 126 cm tall], an original by the celebrated Dominico Greco, which depicts San Ildefonso with Our Lady, favored objects of devotion of Carlos II..."). The NGA painting is the only work by El Greco or his workshop which corresponds to this description.
The painting is listed in the inventory of the collection at the Palacio Real, Madrid, made between 1701 and 1703, as follows: "Ytten otro lienzo de Vara y Quartta de altto y bara de Ancho poco mas de Un San Yldefonso escribiendo delantte de Una Ymagen de nuestra Señora y Un Retratto en el mismo lienzo del Griego todo tasado en treinto Doblones" ("And another painting one vara and a quarter in height [i.e. c. 105 cm] and a little more than one vara wide [i.e., c. 84 cm] of a Saint Ildefonso writing in front of an image of Our Lady and a portrait in the same painting [frame?] by Greco all valued at 30 doblones"); see Inventarios reales: Testamentario del Rey Carlos II, ed. by Gloria Fernández Bayton, 6 vols., Madrid, 1975-: 1(1701-1703):31, no. 130.
This entry seems to refer to two separate paintings which had been enframed together. Double enframing was not common, but it was sometimes utilized in the collection of paintings at the Palacio Real in Madrid. Among the 1,067 entries in the 1701-1703 inventory of the Madrid palace, there are five additional references to other small works enframed together.
It is impossible to know what portrait was enframed with Ildefonso; the portrait might be a now-lost work. Nevertheless it is tempting to posit that the Ildefonso was displayed with Greco's portrait of a Dominican or Trinitarian monk (now in the Prado). This is one of the few portraits by El Greco or his school that could be combined with the Ildefonso without significantly exceeding the measurements given in the 1701-1703 inventory. Because the subject of this portrait is a monk, the combination of this painting with the Ildefonso would accord with the practice otherwise followed in the royal collection of jointly enframing thematically related works.
[4] Manuel B. Cossío, El Greco, Madrid, 1908: 598-599, no. 299; and August L. Mayer, Domenico Theotocopuli, El Greco, Munich, 1926: 46, no. 287, maintained that Zacharie Astruc purchased the painting in Madrid and imported it to France. This is not possible if the painting was in the Condesa de Quinto's sale because Astruc made his first trip to Spain in 1864. See Sharon Fletcher, Zacharie Astruc: Critic, Artist and Japoniste, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, 1977 (published in the series, Outstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts, New York, 1978): 305.
[5] The price is annotated in both the Frick Art Reference Library and the NGA copies of the sale catalogue.
[6] The price is annotated in the Frick Art Reference Library copy of the sale catalogue.
[7] Ives, Colta et al. The Private Collection of Edgar Degas: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1997: no. 599 give Durand-Ruel, who was an expert at the Millet sale, as the intermediary for Degas.
[8] In the 1990 NGA systematic catalogue (Jonathan Brown and Richard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries, The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Washington, 1990: 44), the painting was incorrectly identified as lot number 3 in this sale, which was Saint Dominique, now owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 23.272 and identified as Saint Dominic in Prayer. Diana Kostyrko, e-mail of 18 March 2015, in NGA curatorial files, kindly pointed out the error.
[9] For an interesting account of Knoedler's purchase of this painting, see Sir Charles J. Holmes, Self & Partners (Mostly Self), London, 1936: 335-340.
[10] The date of purchase is noted in David Finley's notebook of Mellon acquisitions; original in NGA Gallery Archives, and copy in NGA curatorial files.
[11] Mellon collection records in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1925

  • Paintings by Old Masters from Pittsburgh Collections, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1925, no. 21.

1928

  • Spanish Paintings from El Greco to Goya, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1928, no. 31.

1933

  • A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 175.

1937

  • Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washington, Phillips Gallery, Washington, 1937, no. 13.

1982

  • El Greco of Toledo, The Toledo [Ohio] Museum of Art; Prado, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982-1983, no. 43, pl. 56.

1997

  • The Private Collection of Edgar Degas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997-1998, no. 599, repro.

2014

  • El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2014-2015, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1875

  • Tillot, Charles S. Catalogue de la vente qui aura lieu par suite de décès de Jean-François Millet, peintre. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10-11 May, 1875: ix.

1906

  • Lafond, Paul. "Domenikos Theotokopuli dit Le Greco." Les arts 58 (1906): 25-26.

1908

  • Cossío, Manuel B. El Greco. Madrid, 1908: 334, 598-599, no. 299 (also rev. ed., ed. Natalia Cossío Jímenez. Barcelona, 1972: 194, 383, no. 255).

1911

  • Mayer, August L. El Greco. Munich, 1911: 83.

1918

  • Frappart, A. "Chronique des ventes." Les arts 168 (1918): 26.

1920

  • Field, Hamilton Easter. Editorial. The Arts 1 (1920): 6, repro. 7.

1926

  • Mayer, August L. Domenico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Munich, 1926: 46, no. 287, pl. 63.

1928

  • Burroughs, Bryson. "Spanish Paintings from El Greco to Goya." Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 23 (1928): 39, repro. 40.

1930

  • Rutter, Frank. El Greco. New York, 1930: 96, no. 67.

1936

  • Holmes, Sir Charles J. Self & Partners (Mostly Self). London, 1936: 340.

1937

  • Legendre, Maurice and Alfred Hartmann. Domenikos Theotokopoulos Called El Greco. Paris, 1937: 433, repro.

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 42-43.

1938

  • Goldscheider, Ludwig. El Greco. London, 1938: pl. 181 (also 1954 rev. ed.: pl. 187).

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 92, no. 83.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 215.

1945

  • Cook 1945, 73-74, fig. 5.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): xii, repro.

1958

  • Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 206, no. 1397.

1960

  • Evans, Grose. Spanish Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Ten in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 18, color repro.

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 20.

1962

  • Wethey, Harold E. El Greco and His School. 2 vols. Princeton, 1962: 1:fig. 113; 2:19 (under no. 23), 239, no. X-361. (also Spanish ed. 2 vols., Madrid, 1967: 1:pl. 117; 2:34 [under no. 23], 254-255, no. X-361).

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 309, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 62.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 54, repro.

1969

  • Manzini, Gianna, and Tiziana Frati. L'opera completa del Greco. Milan, 1969: no. 125e.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 162, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 237, no 302, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 186, repro.

1990

  • Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 43-47, color repro. 45.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 67, color repro.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 81, repro.

1993

  • Griswold, Susanna P. "Two Paintings by El Greco: Saint Martin and the Beggar." Studies in the History of Art 41 (1993): 133, 142, 148, repro. no. 3.

1997

  • Ives, Colta et al. The Private Collection of Edgar Degas: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1997: no. 599.

Inscriptions

lower left: (traces of a signature in cursive Greek)

Wikidata ID

Q20176891

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