August 3, 1906:
The Chicago Daily Tribune
reports that at a recent meeting the trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago
approved the purchase of El Greco’s “Assumption of the Virgin” for the price of
$40,000. The canvas, measuring 13 feet
by two inches high and seven feet by six inches wide, will be the largest
painting on display at the Art Institute.
It was commissioned by Don Diego de Castilla in 1577 as an altar piece
for the convent church of San Domingo El Antiguo in Toledo, Spain. The Art Institute today describes the
priceless work in this way, “The artist’s use of flickering, high-keyed colors
and broad brushwork further lend the work an ecstatic feeling sought after by
Catholic Church patrons during the Counter-Reformation. El Greco used such bold colors and figural
arrangements to arouse a spiritual fervor in the viewer and impart the deep
sense of faith he himself felt.” The
work may be found In Gallery 211 in the European Painting and Sculpture
section.
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