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

St Dominic in Prayer

1586-90
Oil on canvas, 118 x 86 cm
Private collection

The painting represents the thirteenth-century founder of the Dominican order kneeling in isolation on a rocky plateau in prayerful devotion before a crucifix. Behind him is a landscape with one of El Greco's haunting skies filled with swirling, back-lit clouds. Considering the individual features El Greco has given the saint, it is assumed that the picture was based upon the features of a particular person, someone the artist knew personally.

The crucifix, propped against the rocks, is repeated by El Greco in a number of paintings showing saints in devotion: he must have created a drawn or painted model that he could refer to for replication.