Parte superior de El entierro del Conde de Orgaz de El Greco, en la que se muestra a la Virgen, San Juan Bautista y Jesucristo con el alargamiento característico del estilo de El Greco

Why did El Greco paint elongated figures? Myth and reality

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Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541–1614), better known by the nickname “El Greco” due to his origins on the island of Crete, has become the most internationally renowned Greek painter. He left behind some of the greatest masterpieces in the history of painting, such as the monumental oil painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz or The Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest, along with a fair number of enigmas. One of the most debated is that of the elongated figures—those stretched, disproportionate characters that seem to be absorbed by a supernatural force located beyond the upper edge of the painting. These figures appear in several of his works and become especially pronounced in the final period of his artistic career. From a possible visual impairment to a conscious symbolic resource, various hypotheses have been proposed to explain this distinctive feature.

The visual defect hypothesis: Did El Greco have astigmatism?

One of the most widespread popular ideas is the claim that El Greco suffered from a visual defect. This hypothesis was put forward by the Aragonese ophthalmologist Germán Beritens. Between 1913 and 1914, he published an extensive pamphlet that quickly crossed national borders. In it, he argued that Doménikos suffered from a rare and severe form of astigmatism that caused him to perceive reality as elongated and narrow. He even went so far as to manufacture lenses that distorted vision to simulate the painter’s alleged visual disorder. Critical voices soon emerged, and the proposal found little support among art historians.

Some argued that the supposed astigmatism was strangely “selective.” Why did elongated figures appear in some paintings and not in others? Or why, within the same painting, do stretched figures coexist with normally proportioned ones, as in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz? Others pointed out that this feature was not exclusive to El Greco, but also appeared in the works of other artists, such as Tintoretto, who had a great influence on the Cretan painter.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz by El Greco with Elongated Figures in the Celestial Scene
If El Greco had suffered from a visual impairment that distorted his perception of reality, it would be difficult to explain why some of his works contain both elongated and normally proportioned figures. For instance, in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, the celestial figures display pronounced vertical elongation, while this feature is subtle or absent in the figures occupying the earthly plane [The Burial of the Count of Orgaz]. Doménikos Theotokópoulos-Wikimedia Commons

Moreover, Beritens’s hypothesis suffered from a fundamental logical flaw, highlighted by the American psychologist Irvin Rock, who termed it “the El Greco fallacy.” If El Greco had suffered from such severe astigmatism, he would also have perceived the canvas and the models he used as distorted. As a result, by transferring a stretched real model onto an equally stretched canvas, the distortion would cancel itself out and would not appear in the final image. Because of all these issues, this hypothesis has been unanimously rejected by art historians and specialists.

The legacy of Byzantine icons

El Greco spent the first 26 years of his life in Crete, the island where he was born. There, he trained as an icon painter following the principles of the Cretan or post-Byzantine school. This artistic movement flourished in Crete during the period of Venetian rule and focused primarily on the production of religious icons. These icons were characterized by frontal composition and a lack of naturalism. Symbolism and sacredness took precedence, relegating realism and anatomical proportion to a secondary role. Figures were often stylized and elongated, a feature reminiscent of El Greco’s paintings. For this reason, some art historians believe that the artist revived and infused his later works with the style he had cultivated in his youth. Others, however, argue that the Byzantine tradition had little significant influence on his mature work.

El Greco and Mannerism

Around 1567, El Greco left his native Crete and settled in Italy for ten years, first in Venice and later in Rome. This decade is crucial for understanding his style and technique. For many specialists, it is during this period that the answer to the mystery of the elongated figures can be found.

In the City of Canals, Doménikos learned oil painting techniques and mastered the use of color and perspective, drawing inspiration from the great masters of the time, such as Titian, Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese.

The Anunciation by El Greco
In The Annunciation, the brilliant use of color inherited from the Venetian masters is especially striking [The Annunciation]. El Greco-Wikimedia Commons

In Rome, El Greco embraced Mannerism (a term derived from maniera, meaning “style”), an artistic movement that developed during the second half of the 16th century. Mannerists sought to emulate artists they regarded as the pinnacle of art, i.e., Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael. However, in attempting to imitate them, Mannerist artists ended up expressing their own tastes and interests, giving rise to a distinctive style marked by anti-naturalism and abstraction. Bodies in Mannerist paintings tend toward stylization, elongation, disproportion, dramatic expressiveness, exaggeration, and complexity. It was common to depict contorted bodies twisted along their axis, forming an “S”-shaped figure known as the figura serpentinata. Renaissance painting, by contrast, emphasized naturalism, harmony, and realism. When El Greco lived in Rome, the legacy of Michelangelo and Raphael dominated the artistic scene of the Eternal City, and unsurprisingly, the Cretan painter could not escape their influence.

Experts agree that El Greco masterfully combined Venetian Renaissance art and Mannerism, but did not merely assimilate them; instead, he reinterpreted and transformed them into a deeply personal style. From this synthesis emerged those elongated, intensely colored, highly expressive, deliberately anti-naturalistic figures that convey a unique sense of spirituality.

The Disrobing of Christ by El Greco with the Figure of Christ and Elongated Characters in the Foreground
In The Disrobing of Christ, Doménikos skillfully combined the color of the Venetian Renaissance with the features of Mannerism [The Disrobing of Christ]. El Greco-Wikipedia

A painter in the service of the Counter-Reformation

After ten years in Italy, El Greco moved to Toledo around 1577, where he spent the rest of his life and produced his most important works. “Crete gave him life, and Toledo the brushes […]”, wrote Hortensio Félix Paravicino.

At that time, Europe was experiencing a period of great turmoil due to the Lutheran Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Reformers rejected the veneration of religious images—such as saints and the Virgin—considering it idolatrous, while the Catholic Church regarded them as essential tools for educating and indoctrinating the population. In this context, the Church reaffirmed the importance of religious imagery and decreed that biblical scenes and figures should be depicted clearly and legibly in order to move the faithful and stimulate religious experience.

The Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest by El Greco, a portrait of a nobleman in black clothing
Elongated figures were not limited to religious works but also appeared in portraits [The Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest]. El Greco-Wikimedia Commons

El Greco became deeply involved in this iconographic struggle, particularly after settling in one of the main centers of Catholicism. His patrons in Toledo were adherents of Counter-Reformation ideals, and most of his commissions consisted of altarpieces and religious paintings destined for local churches. Thus, El Greco became a painter in the service of the Counter-Reformation. From this perspective, his elongated figures can be understood as a deliberate stylistic resource to express spirituality. The vertical stretching lends the figures an appearance of dematerialization, supernatural elevation, and ascent toward the divine. These features were intended to heighten the viewer’s spiritual response and inspire emotion and reflection.

A liturgical and perspective-based purpose

Another plausible hypothesis —that does not exclude the previous ones—relates the elongated figures to the intended placement of the paintings. Many of El Greco’s commissions were altarpieces designed to be installed in churches, meant to be viewed from below or from a distance. The vertical elongation of the figures enhances their legibility from a low vantage point and reinforces the idea of elevation and celestial transcendence.

Today, art historians agree that El Greco’s elongated figures are a deliberate feature of his artistic style rather than an unconscious product of a visual defect. This feature emerged from his early experience as a Byzantine icon painter in Crete and, more significantly, from his immersion in Venetian Renaissance art and Mannerism—traditions he reinterpreted and adapted to his own artistic vision. It was further intensified in Toledo under the influence of the Counter-Reformation and contributed to the evolution of a more personal, original, and unmistakable style that would secure his place as one of the most important and singular artists in the history of art.

References

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