El Greco immersed himself in the Italian Renaissance during his stay in Venice and Rome, which allowed him to experiment with the opposing colore and disegno[1] techniques for size.

[citation needed] However, following a string of legal disputes over what El Greco deemed inadequate pay for his work, the Cretan master failed to achieve King Phillip's approval.

Despite staying in Toledo, this granted El Greco significant projects which would elevate his artistic career and reputation to meet his ambitions.

[5] As in the earlier version, El Greco includes several elements attributed to the Virgin Mary: such as flowers like roses and lilies, a fountain of clear water, and an enclosed garden.

Towards the later years of his career, his style progresses into one that overlooks proportion, scale, atmospheric perspective, realistic anatomy, and color blending.

Beginning with artists such as Eugène Delacroix and Édouard Manet, who were drawn to his use of color and expression, the creative correspondence [clarification needed] continued into the 20th century.

[citation needed] His muddling of space and the forms which occupy it became a pictorial device later employed by modern artists such as Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso.

[citation needed] The symbolists were influenced by the reserved figural expression the old master portrayed in his pictures, referencing them for their own works.

[citation needed] Rainer Maria Rilke and Nikos Kazantzakis, literary artists, were bemused to write by the mystical character rumored (by scholars) as one having been possessed by El Greco in addition to the artworks he produced.