Tag Archives: Max Beckmann

Different hands, different spirits

El Greco: Grand Inquisitor, 1600
A letter dropped by the Grand Inquisitor’s right hand
El Greco: Saint Jerome as Scholar, circa 1610
Max Beckmann: Old Actress, 1926

(1) “On 3 December 1599, Cardinal Nino de Guevara was appointed Grand Inquisitor of Spain. During his tenure as Grand Inquisitor, the Spanish Inquisition burned 240 heretics, plus 96 in effigy. 1,628 other individuals were found guilty and subjected to lesser penalties.”

(2) “The painting is notable for the novel way in which the artist synthesized the two aspects of Saint Jerome, the scholarly and the ascetic.”

(3) ” Beckmann was proud of this portrait, describing it as “great” and counting it among his “major works,” but he never identified the sitter. He referred to her only as “an old actress,” or “the old lady.”

In 2023, the following full size paintings were added to this post to compare the interactions of between the eyes and hands as is done in the newly added “What do your hands say about you?”

El Greco: Grand Inquisitor, 1600
El Greco: Saint Jerome as Scholar, circa 1610

Max Beckmann: Old Actress, 1926