individual work, representing Spanish character even more truthfully than did any Spanish artist, and it gathers up all the fugitive moods, the grace and charm, the devices and defects of a single race, and gives them complete stability in their wavering expressions.
Between 1595 and 1600, El Greco executed two groups of paintings in the church of San José at Toledo, and in the hospital of La Caridad, at Illescas. Besides these, he is known to have painted thirty-two portraits, several manuscripts, and many paintings for altar-pieces in Toledo and the neighbourhood. As an architect he was responsible for more than one of the churches of Toledo, and as a sculptor for carvings both in wood and in marble, and he can only be properly understood in all his varied excellences after a visit to the city where most of his work was executed.
He died on the 7th of April 1614, and the date of his death is one of the very few certain facts which we have respecting him. The record informs us that he made no will, that he received the sacraments, and was buried in the church of Santo Domingo. The popular legend of his having gone mad towards the latter part of his career has no foundation in fact, but his painting became more and more eccentric as his life went on, and his natural perversity and love of strange, cold colouring, increased towards the end of his life. As has been well said, “Light with him was only used for emotional appeal, and was focussed or scattered at will.” He was haughtily certain of the value of his own art, and was determined to paint in cold, ashen colouring, with livid, startling effect, the gaunt and extraordinary figures that he beheld with his eccentric genius. His pictures have wonderful visionary quality, admirable invention, and are full of passionate fervency. They may be considered extravagant, but are never commonplace, and are exceedingly attractive in their intense emotion, marvellous sincerity, and strange, chilly colour.
El Greco’s work is typically modern, and from it the portrait-painter, J. S. Sargent, claims to have learnt more than from that of any other artist. It immortalizes the character of the people amongst whom he dwelt, and he may be considered as the initiator of truth and realism in art, a precursor and inspirer of Velazquez.
In his own time he was exceedingly popular, and held in great repute. Sonnets were written in his honour, and he is himself said to have written several treatises, but these have not come down to our time. For more than a generation his work was hardly known, but it is now gaining rapidly in importance, and its true position is more and more recognized. Some examples of the artist’s own handwriting have been discovered in Toledo, and Señor Don Manuel Cossia of Madrid has spent many years collecting information for a work dealing with the artist. (G. C. W.)
GRECO-TURKISH WAR, 1897. This war between Greece
and Turkey (see Greece: Modern History) involved two practically
distinct campaigns, in Thessaly and in Epirus. Upon the
Thessalian frontier the Turks, early in March, had concentrated
six divisions (about 58,000 men), 1500 sabres and 156 guns,
under Edhem Pasha. A seventh division was rendered available
a little later. The Greeks numbered about 45,000 infantry,
800 cavalry and 96 guns, under the crown prince. On both
sides there was a considerable dispersion of forces along the
frontier. The Turkish navy, an important factor in the war of
1877–78, had become paralytic ten years later, and the Greek
squadron held complete command of the sea. Expeditionary
forces directed against the Turkish line of communications
might have influenced the course of the campaign; but for
such work the Greeks were quite unprepared, and beyond
bombarding one or two insignificant ports on the coast-line, and
aiding the transport of troops from Athens to Volo, the navy
practically accomplished nothing. On the 9th and 10th April
Greek irregulars crossed the frontier, either with a view to
provoke hostilities or in the hope of fomenting a rising in Macedonia.
On the 16th and 17th some fighting occurred, in which
Greek regulars took part; and on the 18th Edhem Pasha,
whose headquarters had for some time been established at
Elassona, ordered a general advance. The Turkish plan was to
turn the Greek left and to bring on a decisive action, but this
was not carried out. In the centre the Turks occupied the Meluna
Pass on the 19th, and the way was practically open to Larissa.
The Turkish right wing, however, moving on Damani and the
Reveni Pass, encountered resistance, and the left wing was
temporarily checked by the Greeks among the mountains near
Nezeros. At Mati, covering the road to Tyrnavo, the Greeks
entrenched themselves. Here sharp fighting occurred on the
21st and 22nd, during which the Greeks sought to turn the right
flank of the superior Turkish central column. On the 23rd
fighting was renewed, and the advance guard of the Turkish left
column, which had been reinforced, and had pressed back the
Greeks, reached Deliler. The Turkish forces had now drawn
together, and the Greeks were threatened on both flanks. In
the evening a general retreat was ordered, and the loose discipline
of the Greek army was at once manifested. Rumours of disaster
spread among the ranks, and wild panic supervened. There
was nothing to prevent an orderly retirement upon Larissa,
which had been fortified and provisioned, and which offered a
good defensive position. The general débâcle could not, however,
be arrested, and in great disorder the mass of the Greek army
fled southwards to Pharsala. There was no pursuit, and the
Turkish commander-in-chief did not reach Larissa till the 27th.
Thus ended the first phase of the war, in which the Greeks
showed tenacity in defence, which proved fruitless by reason of
initially bad strategic dispositions entailing far too great dispersion,
and also because there was no plan of action beyond a
general desire to avoid risking a defeat which might prevent the
expected risings in Macedonia and elsewhere. The handling of
the Turkish army showed little skill or enterprise; but on both
sides political considerations tended to prevent the application
of sound military principles.
Larissa being abandoned by the Greeks, Velestino, the junction of the Thessalian railways, where there was a strong position covering Volo, seemed to be the natural rallying point for the Greek army. Here the support of the fleet would have been secured, and a Turkish advance across the Othrys range upon Athens could not have taken place until the flanking position had been captured. Whether by direction or by natural impulse, however, the mass of the Greek troops made for Pharsala, where some order was re-established, and preparations were made to resist attack. The importance of Velestino was recognized by sending a brigade thither by railway from Pharsala, and the inferior Greek army was thus split into two portions, separated by nearly 40 m. On 27th April a Turkish reconnaissance on Velestino was repulsed, and further fighting occurred on the 29th and 30th, in which the Greeks under Colonel Smolenski held their own. Meanwhile the Turks made preparations to attack Pharsala, and on 5th May the Greeks were driven from their positions in front of the town by three divisions. Further fighting followed on the 6th, and in the evening the Greek army retired in fair order upon Domokos. It was intended to turn the Greek left with the first division under Hairi Pasha, but the flanking force did not arrive in time to bring about a decisive result. The abandonment of Pharsala involved that of Velestino, where the Turks had obtained no advantage, and on the evening of the 5th Colonel Smolenski began a retirement upon Halmyros. Again delaying, Edhem Pasha did not attack Domokos till the 17th, giving the Greeks time to entrench their positions. The attack was delivered in three columns, of which the right was checked and the centre failed to take the Greek trenches and suffered much loss. The left column, however, menaced the line of retreat, and the Greek army abandoned the whole position during the night. No effective stand was made at the Furka Pass, which was evacuated on the following night. Colonel Smolenski, who arrived on the 18th from Halmyros, was directed to hold the pass of Thermopylae. The Greek forces being much demoralized, the intervention of the tsar was invoked by telegraph; and the latter sent a personal appeal to the Sultan, who directed a suspension of hostilities. On the 20th an armistice was arranged.
