Lot 21. Domenikos Theotokópoulos, called El Greco (Crete 1541-1614 Toledo), The Entombment of Christ, oil on panel, 11 x 7 5/8 in. (28 x 19.4 cm.), with inventory number '18.' (lower right). Price realised GBP 6,290,000 (Estimate GBP 6,000,000 – GBP 8,000,000). ©️ Christie's Image Ltd 2023

Provenance: (Possibly) Miguel Lasso de la Vega y Madariaga (1783-1863), 10th Marqués de las Torres, and thence by descent to,
Miguel Lasso de la Vega y Quintanilla (1830-1900), 12th Marqués de las Torres, and probably by descent to his son,
José María de Ybarra y Menchacatorre (1880-1930), by whom probably bequeathed to his widow,
Josefa Lasso de la Vega y Quintanilla (1884-1967), Condesa Viuda de Ybarra, Seville.
Private collection, London.
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, New York, 14 April, 2016, lot 131 ($6,101,000).

Literature: J. Camón Aznar, Dominico Greco, Madrid, 1950, II, p. 1367, no. 202.
M.S. Soria, 'Greco's Italian Period', Arte veneta: Rivista di storia dell'arte, VIII, 1954, pp. 214 and 221, no. 64.
H. Soehner, 'Greco in Spanien: Teil I: Grecos Stilentwicklung in Spanien', Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst, VIII, 1957, pp. 126 and 132, fig. 2.
H. Soehner, 'Greco in Spanien: Teil III: Katalog der Gemälde Grecos, seines Ateliers und Seiner Nachfolge in Spanischem Besitz', Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst, IX-X, 1958-1959, p. 176, no. 3.
H.E. Wethey, El Greco and His School, Princeton, 1962, II, p. 183, no. X79, as 'Follower of El Greco' but 'the best and presumably the earliest' of the three similar pictures of The Entombment, incorrectly described as 'tempera on panel'.
J. Camón Aznar, Dominico Greco, Madrid, 1970, II, p. 1349, no. 214.
L. Steinberg, 'An El Greco 'Entombment' Eyed Awry’, The Burlington Magazine, CXVI, no. 857, August 1974, pp. 474-475 and 477, fig. 90.
N. Hadjinicolaou, ed., El Greco: Works in Spain, Rethymno, 1990, pp. 382 and 385 (reprinting Soehner, op. cit.).
A.G. Xydis, 'El Greco's Iconographical Sources', El Greco of Crete: Proceedings of the International Symposium held on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the artist's birth Iraklion, Crete, 1-5 September 1990, Iraklion, 1995, pp. 149-150 and 152-3, note 39, with an incorrect illustration.
J. Álvarez Lopera, El Greco: La obra esencial, Madrid, 1993, no. 29.
J. Álvarez Lopera, El Greco: Estudio Y Catálogo, II, 1, Madrid, 2005, no. 29, fig. 44.
A. Donati, ‘Il Greco a Roma, 1570-1575 circa’, El Greco in Italia: metamorfosi di un genio, exhibition catalogue, Milan, 2015, pp. 125, 133, nos. 167 and 168.
A. Donati, Tiziano: Indagini sulla pittura, Foligno, 2016, pp. 10-12, fig. 3.
K. Christiansen, ‘El Greco's Entombment Painted in Rome’, Nuovi studi: Rivista di arte antica e moderna, XXIII, 2017, pp. 118-122, figs. XVI-XVIII and 181-187.

In his article, Keith Christiansen considers this Entombment ‘El Greco’s most ambitious as well as his finest of these [early, Roman period] works for private devotion’ (p. 118), and a prime document of the transformation in his art following his arrival in Rome. The cleaning, he observes, ‘has revealed beneath the much discolored oil var­nish a brilliance of color and delicacy of execution of exceptional beauty’, with examination providing evidence that ‘it and other devotional pictures on panel by El Greco were conceived as precious objects to be transported in a leather case rather than framed’ (p. 119), pointing to the simulation of veined ebony on the reverse, which it has in common with other panels on the same scale from this period. He also points to beautiful underdrawing revealed in infrared imaging, apparently laid in lightly by the artist with charcoal and then gone over with the tip of his brush to create more fluidly applied lines.

Exhibited: Toledo, Museo de Santa Cruz, El Greco of Toledo: Painter of the Visible and the Invisible, 14 March-14 June 2014, no. 10, incorrectly described as 'oil on canvas'.
New York, The Morgan Library and Museum, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, 12 October 2018-6 January 2019, no. 66.
Paris, Grand Palais, Greco, 16 October 2019-10 February 2020, no. 14.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, El Greco: Ambition & Defiance, 7 March-21 June 2020, no. 7.
Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, El Greco, 28 October 2022 – 19 February 19 2023, pp. 322-3. 

Christie's. Old Masters Part I, London, 06.07.2023  London