History of Crete Venice, overthrew official Venetian authorities and declared an independent Cretan Republic. The revolt took Venice five years to quell. During Venetian rule, the Greek population of Crete was exposed to Renaissance culture. A thriving literature in the Cretan dialect of Greek developed on the island. The best-known work from this period is the poem "Erotokritos" by Vitsentzos Kornaros (Βιτσένζος Κορνάρος). Another major Cretan literary figure was Nicholas Kalliakis (1645–1707), a Greek scholar and philosopher who flourished in Italy in the 17th Century. Georgios Hortatzis was author of the dramatic work "Erophile". The painter Domenicos Theotocopoulos, better known as El Greco,
Gorgon Painter the Gorgon Painter uses the Animal-Style; depicting real and fantastical animals in friezes around the vases which is considered to be a Corinthian tradition. The better recorded artist Sophilos is said to be influenced by the Gorgon Painter, continuing work in the black-figure style and animal-style. The Gorgon Painter is considered to use the Corinthian style, or animal style, in his pottery. The name comes from its place of popularity, Corinth. Not to be mistaken with the Greek order of the same name, within Corinthian, there are different subsets including what is called “Animal-Style” which is what the Gorgon painter