GRECO, El
(b. 1541, Candia, d. 1614, Toledo)

Christ as Saviour

c. 1600
Oil on canvas, 73 x 56,5 cm
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

This painting is probably was painted as an individual work, not belonging to a series of Christ with the Apostles (known in Spanish as Apostolado). Christ is represented as the Saviour of the World (Salvator Mundi). The long and narrow head of Christ, the frontal position and the hieratic quality of the representation are strongly reminiscent of Byzantine images of the Pantocrator (Christ as Ruler of all). There are taller versions of this representation in Toledo, in the Museo de El Greco and in the Cathedral.