El Greco of Chandax, present day Heraklion) on Crete, El Greco was descended from a prosperous urban family, which had probably been driven out of Chania to Candia after an uprising against the Catholic Venetians between 1526 and 1528. El Greco's father, Geórgios Theotokópoulos (d. 1556), was a merchant and tax collector. Nothing is known about his mother or his first wife, also Greek. El Greco's older brother, Manoússos Theotokópoulos (1531 – 13 December 1604), was a wealthy merchant and spent the last years of his life (1603–1604) in El Greco's Toledo home. El Greco received his initial training as an icon
Dormition of the Virgin (El Greco) Dormition of the Virgin (El Greco) El Greco painted his Dormition of the Virgin near the end of his Cretan period, probably before 1567. El Greco's signature on the base of the central candelabrum was discovered in 1983. The discovery of the "Dormition" led to the attribution of three other signed works of "Doménicos" to El Greco ("Modena Triptych", "St. Luke Painting the Virgin and Child", and "The Adoration of the Magi") and then to the acceptance as authentic of more works, signed or not (such as "The Passion of Christ (Pietà with Angels)," painted in 1566). This discovery constituted