"EL GRECO."
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] is, I think, universally believed that the real name of " El Greco," the Spanish painter of Cretan origin, was Theotok6poulos, which I take to mean Child of the Mother of God. But of his four signed pictures at present publicly exhibited in the Prado I observe that one bears the signature (in Greek) " Doranikos Theotok6polis " and another the signature (in Greek) " Domtnikos TheotokOpoli." Now Theotokopolis, or Theotokopoli, is quite a different word from TheolokOpoulos, and can only, I imagine, signify Citizen of Theol6kos. Is there a town, in Crete or elsewhere, called TheotOkos? Of the four signed pictures a third is,- in fact, signed " Domtnikos Theotok6poulos " (also in Greek) : the handwriting is identical. The fourth is likewise signed in Greek, but is so Ming that I am unable to read the signature in sufficient detail to state whether the surname is or is not TheotokOpouios. The son of " El Greco," Manuel, is repre- sented in the Prado by one painting. This is signed, blit sired. in. Latin or Spanish. The writing in this case is, in part, hard to read ; but it is clear that neither Theotok6poulo nor Theotokopolis, nor any equivalent or variant of these names, occurs in it, so that it throws no light on the problem. It rather looks to me as though " El dieco," though once at least ,he signed himself Theotokopoulos, Must have come from a town called Theol6kos.=-1 am,-Sir, &c.; R. J. WALKER.
Hotel Ritz, Paseo del Prado, Madrid.
July 8th.
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