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6 Portrait of Antonio de Covarrubias y Leiva (1524-1602)

Journeys were an essential part of the life of El Greco. El Greco was born on the Greek island of Crete, then under Venetian rule, and traveled to Italy where he worked in Venice and Rome before making his way to Madrid in 1577, when he was in his mid-thirties. Eventually, he settled in Toledo and achieved success with his religious paintings and portraits. Toledo was a center for the Catholic faith, attracting celebrated scholars and clergy to the city. This portrait depicts one such figure, Antonio de Covarrubias y Leiva, a famous legal scholar and humanist from Toledo. El Greco was seventeen years younger than Covarrubias, but their shared interest in classical literature and the Greek language led them to form a close relationship. The artist meticulously captured the distinct facial features of an aging Covarrubias in this portrait—his sunken cheeks, the bags under his eyes, and the wrinkles on his forehead—and it is believed that this work was painted during Covarrubias’s lifetime.