Art Funded
An Allegory (Fàbula)
© National Galleries of Scotland
El Greco (1541 - 1614)
Scottish National Gallery
circa 1580 - 1585
A boy blows on a burning ember between a man and a monkey. The meaning is obscure - allegorical, moral, or the recreation of a lost work from a classical text, ekphrasis. It is likely that the picture illustrates a Spanish proverb: 'Man is fire; Woman is tow; and the devil blows them into flame'. It certainly seems that Fabula contained some warning as to the consequences of 'playing with fire'. This painting has a lightness of touch and fluency of form. This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 66 x 88 cm
- Art Fund Grant: £100000 ( Total: £1,269,303)
- ArtFunded in: 1989
- Vendor: Biggart, Bailie & Gifford
Provenance
Feret, Paris; C.Cherfils, Paris; Dr James Simon (Berlin), sale Amsterdam, 1927.
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