Spain, born Crete, 1541–1614

El Greco

Doménikos Theotokópoulos trained in the Byzantine icon tradition on Crete, worked in Venice and Rome, and settled in Toledo, where he was known simply as the Greek.

The Assumption of the Virgin is over four metres tall — it was painted for an altarpiece, to be read from below and from a distance, which is why the figures elongate as they rise.