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  ...and graceful in contour. Some a mere arabesque, or living flames; some sinister and fantastic; from the sublime to the silly is with Greco not a wide stride. But in all his surging, writhing sea of wraiths, saints, kings, damned souls and blest, a cerebral grip is manifest. He knew a hawk from a handsaw despite his temperament of a mystic. "He who carries his own most intimate emotions to their highest point becomes the first in a file of a long series of men"; but, adds Mr. Ellis: To be a leader of men one must turn one's back on men.   " El Greco, like Charles Baudelaire, cultivated his hysteria. He developed his individuality to the border line across which looms madness. The transmogrification of his temperament after living in Toledo was profound. Born Greek, in art a Venetian, the atmosphere of the Castilian plain changed the colour of his soul. In him there was material enough for both a Savonarola or a Torquemada--his piety was at once iconoclastic and fanatical. And his restlessness, his ceaseless experiments,...   Ellis, Havelock

Excerpt from Promenades of an Impressionist · This quote is tagged Leaders and Leadership · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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