"Masterpieces from the World's Museums in the Hermitage"
El Greco: The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Baptism of Christ
From the Palazzo Barberini (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica), Rome, Italy

The exhibition of El Greco's Adoration of the Shepherds and Baptism of Christ has been organized thorough the agreement on the exchange of paintings between the Hermitage and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica. The works being displayed in the Hermitage are associated with one of the most significant ensembles that El Greco produced in the late 1590s for the church of the Colegio de Do¸a Marýa de Aragon, an Augustinian monastery in Madrid and give viewers an idea of the artist's late creations which expressed complex religious ideas in an expressive, extravagant manner.

The Hermitage possesses two works by El Greco - Portrait of the Poet Alonso de Ercilla (circa 1577) and The Apostles Peter and Paul (1587-92), belonging to his early and mature Spanish periods respectively. The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Baptism of Christ reflect the artist's late style that is not reflected in the Hermitage and this factor determined the choice of paintings for exhibition.

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At the opening of the exhibition

Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky at the exhibition