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
Art of El Greco issues about El Greco's Byzantine origins needing further illumination. According to Lambraki-Plaka "far from the influence of Italy, in a neutral place which was intellectually similar to his birthplace, Candia, the Byzantine elements of his education emerged and played a catalytic role in the new conception of the image which is presented to us in his mature work". According to Lambraki-Plaka, El Greco employed a deliberately non-naturalistic style and his completely spiritualized figures are a reference to the ascetics of Byzantine hagiography. El Greco in his lifetime was highly esteemed as an architect and sculptor. He usually designed complete altar