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
Museum of El Greco The museum opened to the public in 1998. The village of Fodele is claimed as the birthplace of El Greco, but this is disputed. The museum claims to be where El Greco was born. The Historical Museum of Crete in Heraklion not far away includes two original works by El Greco, the only original works by the artist in Crete. Museum of El Greco The Museum of El Greco (aka El Greco Museum or Domenikos Theotokopoulos Museum) is located on the edge of the village of Fodele in Crete, west of the city of Heraklion. It celebrates the mannerist painter