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Which figures in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz may be portraits of El Greco and his son?
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El Greco
Burial of the Count de Orgaz, oil on canvas by El Greco, 1586–88; in the church of Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain.
In The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, two figures are widely believed to be portraits of the artist and his son:
- El Greco: A face in the back row of the crowd of contemporary nobles, depicted staring out of the painting, is thought to be a self-portrait of the artist.12
- Jorge Manuel: The young boy standing to the lower left and carrying a torch is identified as El Greco’s son, Jorge Manuel. The artist’s signature and the date 1578—the year of the boy's birth—are inscribed on a handkerchief protruding from the boy's pocket.12