The Virgin of Charity (El Greco) of the Virgin"). It updates the medieval iconography of the Virgin of Mercy. The central figure of the Virgin opens her cloak, sheltering a group of figures in then-fashionable ruffs, including the painter's son and other members of the Toledan aristocracy. The Virgin of Charity (El Greco) The Virgin of Charity (Spanish - "La Virgen de la Caridad") is a 1597-1603 painting by El Greco. It was part of a commission to paint five works for the high altarpiece of the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad in the Spanish town of Illescas, Toledo, gained through the mediation of
El Greco painted in 1566),—which were brought into the group of early works of El Greco. El Greco is now seen as an artist with a formative training on Crete; a series of works illuminate his early style, some painted while he was still on Crete, some from his period in Venice, and some from his subsequent stay in Rome. Even Wethey accepted that "he [El Greco] probably had painted the little and much disputed triptych in the Galleria Estense at Modena before he left Crete". Nevertheless, disputes over the exact number of El Greco's authentic works remain unresolved, and the status