Saint Martin and the Beggar

Saint Martin and the Beggar portrays the fourth-century Roman soldier who divided his cloak to clothe a shivering pauper, the act for which he is venerated as Saint Martin. The panel was commissioned for the Chapel of San José in Toledo by Martín Ramírez, whose namesake the saint was and who financed the chapel, and it shows the sharp facial type and elongated, flame-like treatment that are hallmarks of El Greco’s late style. Painted in 1597 and 1599, at the summit of the artist’s career in Toledo, it remains one of the most admired works in the National Gallery of Art.