The Penitent Magdalene  1577

It was said of El Greco that he painted with a piece broken off a wooden cross, without making any corrections, so that 'every patch of paint corresponds to God's will'. The story is not factual, yet it speaks volumes: it is as if the febrile visions evolved from the roughly defined, impetuous forms at the touch of some mystic power. Yet it is not, after all, God's hand at...