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El Greco’s “Dominican” will be an even stronger influence in later paintings. In fact, he borrowed extensively from El Greco's work throughout his career, with this early work a mere precursor. As Pierre Daix and Georges Baudaille comment “El Greco was studied and admired in the intellectual circles of Barcelona. Santiago Rusinol had bought two paintings by El Greco in 1894, although this was in Paris. Miguel Utrillo contributed a great deal towards making the Master of Toledo known, even before the publication of his monograph on the artist in 1906. Utrillo was an editor of the review Pe'l y Ploma, and he was responsible for the first article of importance on Picasso published in Spain, on the pastels exhibited in the Sala Pares” ( Picasso 34). As Barr observes, Miguel Utrillo was also a connoisseur of Catalan Medieval art, and he influenced Picasso simultaneously in the two directions (Barr 274).

Picasso's debt to El Greco has been commented upon. For instance, “There is no doubt that Picasso found El Greco a very strong moral support” (Cirici-Pellicer qtd in Daix, Picasso: The Blue 22). The esteem in which Picasso held the works of El Greco has also been substantiated by a conversation with Bernareggi published by Diego F. Pro and reprinted by de Salas. Bernareggi said “I remember that in the Prado Museum, as I was copying El Greco with Picasso the people and the fellow students were scandalized and called us 'modernistas' . . . . We sent the copies to our professor in Barcelona (the father of Picasso). When it was a matter of Velazquez, Goya and the Venetian painters, everything was well. But on the day that we decided to make a copy of an El Greco, and we sent it to him, he replied severely, "You are following the bad way!" That was in 1897. Then El Greco was a danger . . . . We also made trips to El Escorial, to Aranquez, to Toledo. How many hours did we spend studying and admiring "El Entierro del Conde Orgaz"/”The Burial of Count Orgaz”” (de Salas 484).

EXAMPLES FROM 1902

“Study for Two Sisters” 1902 (5) and “Studies for La Vie” 1903 (6, 7)

The "Study for Two Sisters," 1902 (5) and"Studies for La Vie" May 1903, (6) and (7) demonstrate the definite reliance on Charles Gleyre's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (5A) at this stage in the development of the composition. The prodigal son is transformed into one of the two sisters in the study by Picasso. The arbor overhead appears in the top of Picasso's studies for “La Vie.” The figure grouping is borrowed by Picasso.

“Man in Blue” 1902 (8)

"Man in Blue” (8) is a twin of El Greco's St. Paul from "St. Peter and St. Paul" (8A), displaying elements that are characteristic of the master's heads. The turn of the nose angled to the right side of the face, the position of one eye a little higher than the other, and a twist in the mustache and beard derive from this El Greco, which was located in Barcelona where Picasso was working at the time.

“Head of a Woman” 1902 (9)

El Greco's "Portrait of an Unknown Lady" (9A) is the model for Picasso's "Head of a Woman" (9). The way the hair contrasts with the forehead, the similarities of the contours, the placement of the features, and the light and shadow development correspond to El Greco's style.

EXAMPLES FROM 1903

“Studies for La Vie” (6) and (7)

“ Studies for La Vie” (6) and (7) were discussed in related examples from 1902.

“La Vie” 1903 (10)

"La Vie” (10) is a good example of Picasso's combining various sources into a unified work, as has been commented upon by George Heard Hamilton “ On the wall behind the principal figures, two drawings are Picasso's tribute to the masters who were then emerging as major influences in French and European painting: to Gauguin, whose heavy contours are apparent in the two huddled nudes, and to Van Gogh, whose more clamorous subjectivity is recalled by the crouching figure below, an echo of his lithograph of ‘Sorrow’ of 1882. In so large and carefully considered a work as this, it is important to point to the elements drawn from other artists if we are to understand Picasso's artistic personality, which time and again has been more refreshed by the contemplation and analysis of works of art than of what is customarily described as 'life' or 'nature'” (Hamilton 144).

However, this is only the beginning, as there are various other ones as discussed below. "Seated Nude" (10A) by Corot, in the collection of the Louvre, relates to the crouching figures in “La Vie.”

This area may also owe something to Ingres' "The Dream of Ossian" (10G), for Ossian at the bottom of Ingres' composition is suggestive of the figure on the canvas in Picasso's painting. Other models such as the soldier and female in the central portion of “The Dream of Ossian” (10G) could have posed for the two figures as one in Picasso's "La Vie.” The powerful shape of the soldier on the right in the Ingres' painting visually contains the scene, as does the female on the right of the Picasso.

"The Burial of Atala" by Anne Louis Girodet (10C) contains a crouching figure which is a mirror reversal of Picasso's. Sir Anthony Blunt has suggested that the crouching figure was derived from Van Gogh's "Sorrow” (10B) (Blunt qtd. in Pool “The Picasso Exhibition” 387).

Sir Edward Burne-Jones's near monochrome figures in "Perseus Receiving His Arms" (10F) also appear related to the crouching figures as well as the standing figures.

Incidentally, a "Study for La Vie” (7) has a nude male on the right whose pose is quite similar to that of Perseus. The central clothed figure hints at the posture of the couple.

The left foot and leg of the male refer to El Greco, especially the Christ and the large figure on the right in "The Resurrection" (10D) in the Prado. His hand is in accord with the gestures of the hands in El Greco's "St. John the Baptist" (10H) and the pointing child in the lower left of the "Burial of Count Orgaz" (2C). These, along with the left hand of Christ in the "Agony in the Garden"

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