Abstract The purpose of this article is to interpret a selection of El Greco’s Italian paintings (1560-1576) based on Bible texts in which ideas current during the Catholic Counter- Reformation are symbolised. At the age of nineteen El Greco, who was born in Crete in 1541 and was initially an icon painter in the Byzantine tradition, went to Venice. Through study and experiment, and by following the examples of other artists who had achieved artistic mastery and was of proven Catholic orthodoxy, he educated himself as an artist in the Western manner. Even during his years as an apprentice El Greco’s art is proof that he aspired to the highest humanly accessible values exemplified by Renaissance artistic theory, humanism and Christian spirituality — all of which later came to fruition in an unprecedented original combination in Toledo, Spain, where he settled permanently in 1577.

La ricerca prende in considerazione il periodo di attività in Lombardia di Giusto de’ Menabuoi, pittore del XIV secolo di origine fiorentina e noto soprattutto per le opere realizzate a Padova, dove lavorò dal 1370 fino alla morte avvenuta prima del 1391. Tra il 1348 e il 1367 circa lavorò anche in Lombardia ma su questo periodo le certezze sono molto poche. Sono state quindi prese in esame le opere date al pittore in questo periodo (affreschi di Viboldone e di Brera, polittico del 1363 e trittico del 1367), cercando di precisare meglio la possibile datazione e di rendere più sicura l’attribuzione. Infine è stata proposta l’attribuzione di un’opera inedita, dipinta da Giusto per una chiesa di Monza. Dalla ricerca si ricava che durante il lungo soggiorno in Lombardia lo stile del pittore cambiò nell’uso di forme e di colori più eleganti e raffinati che influenzarono i pittori lombardi di quegli anni. / My research examines the period of activity in Lombardy of Giusto de' Menabuoi, a painter of the 14 century. He was born in Florence and is mostly known for his paintings executed in Padua where he worked from 1370 until his death just before 1391. Approximately between 1348 and 1367 he worked also in Lombardy but little is known for sure about this period. For the research presented here, some works from this period have been studied: the frescoes of Viboldone and Brera, the polyptych from 1363 and the triptych from 1367), proposing an approach to dating and provide more evidence for the attribution. Finally there is a proposal for attributing an unpublished work by Giusto for a church in Monza. The reseach shows that during his long stay in Lombardy the stile of the painter underwent a number of changes in his use of more elegant and refined colours which influenced other Lombard painters of that period.