Saint Martin and the Beggar

What the painting depicts

Martin of Tours, horse, beggar, male toplessness, ruff, man, Arabian horse, armor.

From the museum

This painting is a small replica of an altarpiece for the private family chapel of San José in Toledo, Spain. Producing smaller versions of commissioned altarpieces allowed El Greco to introduce his creations to a wider market. The composition here includes elements that would have resonated with his audience: Saint Martin wears fashionable, contemporary armor, and the walls of Toledo are visible in the distant background. Martin was a popular saint during the period, when the Catholic Church was promoting acts of charity like the gift of his cloak to a beggar as necessary for earning salvation.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey McCormick

Materials & technique

Materials: oil paint, canvas.

Technique: oil painting, painting techniques, painting (image making), painting.

Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right: Domenikos Theotokopoulos / Kres epoiei [transliterated].

Provenance

Possibly in the artist’s studio at the time of his death, 1614 [the 1614 inventory of the artist’s estate includes “un S. Martin” (a St. Martin); transcribed by F[rancisco] de B[orja de] San Román [y Fernández], El Greco en Toledo, Madrid, 1910, p. 193]; possibly by descent to his son, Jorge Manuel Theotocopoulos (d. 1631), Toledo [the 1621 inventory of Jorge Manuel’s possessions includes “170 Un San Martin a caballo, de bara y terzia y tres quartas” (170 A Saint Martin on horseback, of one vara and a third by three quarters); transcribed by Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, “De la vida del Greco,” Archivo español de arte y arqueología 3 (1927), p. 301]. Marquis de Perinat, Madrid, by 1910 [according to New York 1915]. Durand-Ruel, Paris, by 1912, with a half-share sold to Knoedler, New York [Stein 1993, p. 259, citing documents in the Durand-Ruel Archives, Paris, and letters to Louisine W. Havemeyer]; sold by Knoedler to Charles Deering (d. 1927), Chicago, by 1922; on loan to the AIC from 1922 [On loan from 1922 to 1931, when it was sent to Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey McCormick; Art Institute Archives]; given to his daughters Mrs. Chauncey McCormick and Mrs. Richard E. Danielson, 1924; Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, in a division of their joint property, by 1931; given to the Art Institute, 1949.

Where to see Saint Martin and the Beggar

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. View on the museum’s official page.

See more works at Art Institute of Chicago or browse the full El Greco collection.