SUCH A DISGUSTING PAINTING!

The Greco was a famous artist who painted to the King of Spain: Felipe II. Although, the relationship with the spanish King was not as successful as we supposed; in fact, Felipe II rejected his Martyrdom of Saint Maurice, one of the most important canvas of spanish History of Art. As we can read on the linked article: " He [Felipe II] claimed that the figures did not inspire devotion". Your task is try to discover why Felipe II did not like the Greco´s painting at all. Read the article, it will be very useful (meaty information is In bold :). Good luck!

FELIPE II REJECTED THE MARTYRDOM OF SAINT MAURICE 

Navarrete el mudo's death in 1579 meant that Felipe II urgently needed artists to decorate the Escorial. El Greco was chosen to work on the altarpieces in the basilica. He was commissioned to paint one of the side altars dedicated to Saint Maurice and the Tebana Legion. Saint Maurice was one of the patron saints of the fight against heresy. In the third century A.D., Saint Maurice was the leader of an Egyptian Legion of the Roman army. All his legionnaires had adopted the Christian religion. During the Legion's stay in Gaul they received orders from Emperor Maximilian to make a number of sacrifices to the Roman gods. When they refused, the legionnaires and the saint were all executed.

El Greco wanted to take advantage of the opportunity he had been given to mix a possibly fictitious, early Christian story with contemporary events. The bearded figure of Saint Maurice, dressed in a blue cuirass, is depicted in the foreground on the right with his captains at the moment in which they are deciding whether to make the sacrifice to the pagan gods. All the figures are wearing the military uniform of the 16th century linking the Spanish generals' fight against heresy and paganism to Saint Maurice's fight against the same enemies. The martyrdom is depicted in a secondary plane. The legionnaires are portrayed in a row, nude or wearing semi-transparent tunics, waiting their turn to be executed. The executioner is on a rock with his back turned and next to him we can see Saint Maurice again, comforting his men and thanking them fro their decision. A decapitated man reinforces the idea of the martyrdom, portrayed in a bold foreshortening [escorzo]. In the upper part of the painting there is a celestial vision of heaven in glory formed by musical angels and others carrying palms and triumphal crowns. These boldly foreshortened figures contrast with the stillness of the main scene. The image takes place on rocky ground and El Greco does not set the episode in a more appropriate place because he is mainly interested in conveying the spirituality of the scene.

However, Philip II rejected the painting because the martyrdom: he claimed that the figures did not inspire devotion. As a result the painting was substituted by a another work on the same theme by the Italian artist, Romulo Cincinnato.

http://www.historyandarts.com/fichas/obras/1697.htm