Holy Family (El Greco, Hospital de Tavera) Holy Family (El Greco, Hospital de Tavera) Holy Family is a 1595 oil on canvas painting by El Greco, painted during his time in Toledo and now in the Hospital de Tavera in that city. The work is very similar to those painted by the same artist during his stay in Rome. The artist frequently returned to the theme of the Holy Family. Though this work has similarities to his work on the same subject now in the Museum of Santa Cruz, he has omitted the infant John the Baptist, painted the Virgin as a nursing Madonna and altered the
El Greco claim to rival these masters. As his own commentaries indicate, El Greco viewed Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael as models to emulate. In his 17th century "Chronicles", Giulio Mancini included El Greco among the painters who had initiated, in various ways, a re-evaluation of Michelangelo's teachings. Because of his unconventional artistic beliefs (such as his dismissal of Michelangelo's technique) and personality, El Greco soon acquired enemies in Rome. Architect and writer Pirro Ligorio called him a "foolish foreigner", and newly discovered archival material reveals a skirmish with Farnese, who obliged the young artist to leave his palace. On 6 July 1572,