10 EURO SILVER COIN PROOF RENAISSANCE(ANAGENNISI)

The Renaissance began earlier in Byzantium than in the West, with Constantinople and Mystras as its main centers, but it was halted by the fall of the Byzantine state to the Ottomans in 1453. As a result, the Greek world found itself cut off from the European Renaissance culture, with the exception of certain Greek regions that remained outside Ottoman rule (such as the Venetian-held Ionian Islands and Crete). In Crete in particular, the encounter between Byzantine and Western culture flourished in the fields of poetry, theatre, architecture, and painting. The most eminent representative of Cretan Renaissance culture would be the painter Dominikos Theotokopoulos (“El Greco”, 1541–1614). After mastering both the Byzantine and Western artistic styles in his birthplace, Heraklion, he perfected his technique in Venice and Rome, where he came into contact with the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian. He eventually settled in Toledo, where he created the works of his maturity—works that continue to move and inspire thanks to their profound spirituality, metaphysical depth, and expressionistic character.