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The full body portrait of Cardinal Niño de Guevara by El Greco is an imposing painting that effectively communicates the boundless power held by the fifteenth century Catholic Inquisition, the sitter and the Spanish church in general. It is also an example of El Greco’s great talent in depicting psychological depth through portraiture. He presents to viewer a subject who is both a cruel enforcer of the will of the church and one of the chosen mediators between the celestial and human realms. The pale skin tone and intense look in the sitter’s eyes are enough to make the viewer feel his strong, authoritarian presence, which are directly derived from divine power and bestowed to him by the church. It is notable that there are no religious symbols besides the elegant red garment worn by the cardinal and that the painting is not set in a recognizable church setting; there are no crucifixes, bibles or representations of saints in the composition. This portrait seems to want to represent a statesman, an aristocrat or an important church dignitary more than a spiritual leader who can be a moral and religious role model for the viewer. The ever watching and menacing gaze of the inquisitor general is meant to be as frightening and as severe as the inquisition itself. This portrait seems to be divided in halves, or equal parts, creating a sense of symmetry. Instead of placing the portrait on an unvarying background, El Greco distributed it into two equal halves, which divide the canvas from its vertical axis. The dark, earthy tones were painted on the left while leaving the gold tones of the wallpaper are on the right. The composition reinforces the idea of symmetry, the duality and contradiction of the “Holy Office” and the position held by the cardinal in the organization. The dark tones represent the world with all of its suffering, gloom and injustices while the gold tones are reminiscent of the heavenly light and spiritual salvation. This duality of the subject and his position in the church is present throughout the composition and the use of color in this portrait. The cardinal’s hands also give us a glimpse into his character while continuing the theme of duality, opposition and contrast. Each of them presents a contrary mood or attitude to the other. The left hand is closed and firmly holding the chair, while the right one hangs relaxed, as if representing the film hold that the Catholic Church had over Spain and contrasting it with the promise of salvation for the true believers who unquestionably follow it. The dual nature of an inquisition cardinal is highlighted in this portrait, as is the cruel and soul-saving duality of the office he holds and the organization he represents. An interesting aspect of this portrait is that the sitter is not looking to the front, at the viewer. His eyes look to the left, while his face is slightly turned to the right, as if showing that he is the person who can take the viewer to the right, the heavenly side of the composition, where the celestial gold tones live, while keeping a vigilant eye on earth in case of any transgression against his office. This portrait would be very different and even lack psychological depth if its background was not evenly divided in halves. The cardinal was painted in the center of the canvas and occupies most of the space in the composition. El Greco used this design to reinforce the idea of the high status and holiness of the cardinal rather than to create an accurate representation of a person or reference to space. Placing the subject dead center in the composition makes his look as if he were flying upwards to heaven, or perhaps floating vigilantly above us.

The patron for this work was the Catholic Church/Spanish Inquisition who at the time was fighting an all out public relations war against the protestant reformation, the possible conversion of more people and the further loss of Catholic territories. This is one of the main reasons this portrait was paid for and executed: to preserve the eroding control and power of the Catholic Church during the 16th century following the publication of Luther’s theses and the spread of the reformation in the north. This portrait was painted fifty-two years after the end of the Thirty Years War, when the Counter Reformation campaign was at its peak. There are three known versions of this painting. One is on exhibition the Met and measures 67 ¼ x 42 ½ in., while a considerably smaller version on display at the Oscar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland measures only 29 1/8 x 20 1/16 in., under half the size of the Met version, and focuses on the face and expression of the cardinal as opposite to the Met version which is the final, full-body portrait. In her article for The Journal of Religion and Spirituality at Columbia University, Looking into the Eyes of Evil? Joanna Diane describes the Winterthur portrait as a study for the more elaborate version at the Met, which would explain why the symmetry, psychological depth and message from the final version is absent from it as it focuses on the face and expression of the sitter more that the details in color and composition present of the Met version. The third version of this portrait is located in the Museo del Greco in Toledo measures 48 X 29 inches, placing it in the middle of the three regarding canvas size. The Joanna Caytas also mentions the Toledo version on her article and attributes it to El Greco “The third known version is a copy of the MMA portrait by Theotokópoulos himself on display in the Museo de El Greco in Toledo.”, while the museum website names Luis Tristán as the author.

Fernando Niño de Guevara was born in Toledo in 1541, appointed cardinal by king Phillip III in 1596 and Grand Inquisitor in 1599; he was the fourteenth inquisitor general of the Spanish inquisition. According to Don Juan Antonio Llorente in his book Historia crítica de la Inquisición en España, both the current pope and the king dismissed him after just three years on the job citing disputes between the Jesuits from Alcala and the Spanish clergy that, as inquisitor general, he was not able to solve and actually kept inflaming. “Este asunto fue causa de que el papa y el rey destituyesen al cardinal Niño de sus funciones de inquisidor general y le enviases a governar su diocesis al principio del año 1602.” During the short time in office of Fernando Niño de Guevara, the Spanish Inquisition burnt two hundred and forty people at the stake and ninety-six statues representing others accused of similar sins. One thousand seven hundred and twenty eight other people were sent to prison and had their belongings seized by his office. Overall, 2074 victims were punished by the inquisition under his command showing how the autos de fé continued being used in similar numbers than before during his time in office. Don Juan de Zuñiga substituted him after only three years in the post, becoming the fifteenth inquisitor general. El Greco joined the likes of Raphael, Titian and Tintoretto as one of the greatest portraitists of his time while simultaneously influencing and inspiring many generations of future artists.

El Greco was able to communicate deep emotions trough color and symmetry, this portrait goes hand and hand with the image and practices of the Spanish Inquisition during this time, both the portrait and the inquisition wanted to strike the fear of god in anyone who would dare not follow the church’s instructions, especially during such a changing and trying period of their history.