El Greco case, Philip's dissatisfaction ended any hopes of royal patronage El Greco may have had. Lacking the favor of the king, El Greco was obliged to remain in Toledo, where he had been received in 1577 as a great painter. According to Hortensio Félix Paravicino, a 17th-century Spanish preacher and poet, "Crete gave him life and the painter's craft, Toledo a better homeland, where through Death he began to achieve eternal life." In 1585, he appears to have hired an assistant, Italian painter Francisco Preboste, and to have established a workshop capable of producing altar frames and statues as well as
Posthumous fame of El Greco to Greco" and wrote a tribute to the Cretan-born artist. In 1998, the Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis published "El Greco", a symphonic album inspired by the artist. This album is an expansion of an earlier album by Vangelis, "Foros Timis Ston Greco" ("A Tribute to El Greco", Greek: "Φόρος Τιμής Στον Γκρέκο"). The life of the Cretan-born artist is the subject of "El Greco", a 2007 Greek-Spanish film directed by Yannis Smaragdis and starring British actor Nick Ashdon as El Greco. Posthumous fame of El Greco El Greco ( Castilian for "The Greek" ), 1541 – April 7,