Angelic concert by El Greco

This splendid celestial harmony highlights the purely poetic and visionary dimension of the inimitable style developed by El Greco. Intended to celebrate divine glory, the composition features a group of angelic figures gathered around the universal theme of music under the title of “Angelic concert”. The dynamism of the whole bears witness to a total break with the rigid conventions of the painting of his time.

An assembly of divine messengers with delicate faces occupies the entire space of the canvas, creating a true ethereal concert. On the left, a figure draped in a flamboyant red turns its back to the spectator while another, dressed in emerald green, closely reads an open score. In the center, an angel in profile plays a large wooden harp whose strings seem to vibrate under its agile fingers. On the right, other musicians handle a flute and an imposing viola da gamba, their faces turned towards the sky in a mystical ecstasy. The background is composed of vaporous clouds in gray and bluish hues that merge with the moving clothes of the characters.

The painter shows an extraordinary technical ease in the restitution of movement and the fluidity of silky fabrics. His use of transparent glazes and luminous highlights gives a supernatural lightness to this melodious scene. It is a brilliant testimony to his mastery of oil.