The Story
Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. 8 million. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), after Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU, after Paris. 89 sq mi). Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula at about 660 metres (2,170 ft) above mean sea level. The capital city of both Spain and the surrounding autonomous community of Madrid, it is the political, economic and cultural centre of the country.
The primitive core of Madrid, a walled military outpost, dates back to the late 9th century, under the Emirate of Córdoba. Conquered by Christians in 1083 or 1085, it consolidated in the Late Middle Ages as a sizeable town of the Crown of Castile. The development of Madrid as an administrative centre was fostered after 1561, as it became the permanent seat of the court of the Hispanic Monarchy. The following centuries were characterised by the reinforcement of Madrid's status within the framework of a centralised form of state-building.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 143.3 × 100.4 cm (56 7/16 × 39 1/2 in.); Framed: 172.7 × 129.5 × 10.2 cm (68 × 51 × 4 in.), the surface rewards close looking. El GrecoWorkshop of El Greco builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
