# St Martin and the Beggar [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GRECO, El]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 193 x 103 cm ## Commentary This painting was made for the Capilla de San José \(Chapel of Saint Joseph\) in Toledo, originally it was placed on the left-hand side of the high altar. The paintings for the high altar \(still in place\) were the Saint Joseph and the Christ Child, and above, the Coronation of the Virgin; and, for the side altars, the Saint Martin and the Beggar and the Virgin and Child with Saints were placed. Clad in gold damascened armour with a ruff typical of fashionable Toledan dress in El Greco's day, St Martin is shown astride a white horse as he prepares to cut his bright green cloak in half in order to share it with the beggar who stands on the left. Below, a distant and freely painted view of Toledo shows the Alcántara bridge and the river Tagus. The gleaming whiteness of the horse and the shining gold-damascene work on Martin's armour contrast with the darkening sky behind. The painting is from the Widener Collection. There is a <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/g/greco\_el/13/1305grec.html'\)" HREF="/html/g/greco\_el/13/1305grec.html">nearly identical smaller version</A> of the subject also in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from the Mellon Collection. ## Related artworks - [A Boy Blowing on an Ember to Light a Candle \(Soplón\)]() - [A Lady in a Fur Wrap]() - [A Prelate]() - [A View of Toledo \(detail\)]() - [A View of Toledo]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds \(detail\)]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Allegory of the Camaldolese Order]() - [Altarpiece]() - [An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\)]() - [An Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool \(Fábula\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()