Christ Blessing 

El Greco painted 'Christ Blessing' in oil on canvas at some point during his time in Spain. The artist, who was trained in the Venetian Renaissance style, settled in Toledo at a time when the Catholic church was re-asserting itself against the rise of Protestantism. This image of Christ is both familiar, in its general outlines, and strange. Christ appears as a pale, almost ethereal being, gesturing to the viewer in a strangely stylized way. But while his other religious paintings seem to advocate for the traditions of the Catholic church, this one seems to hint at a more personal, less institutionalized form of faith. To understand paintings like this better, art historians will look to theological debates from the period and institutional histories of the Catholic church in Spain. In this way, we can better understand the fascinating interplay between the artist’s own vision and the wider society in which he operated.