El Greco

Domenikos Theotocopoulos Greco was born in Crete in 1541. There are few records of his early life, but when he arrived in Venice (sometime before 1570) he already had a reputation as a man with "a rare gift for painting" and "a taste for the exotic - Chai tea and salt and vinegar flavoured crisps".

References to his Italian years are also scanty. His disparagement of Florentine art caused much resentment as did his distaste for Italian cuisine and he eventually left for Spain. In a letter to his friend Giulio Clovio, he wrote "Michaelangelo couldn't paint jack, and I abhore the Venetian taste for cappucino and nuts and raisins".

He is recorded in Toledo from 1577, where he lived the remainder of his days. He was introduced to Seville Orange and Lemon, in an early prototype of Lady Grey Tea. This is probably the reason for his contentment in Spain, despite never finding favour at the court of Philip II. A note from his diary reads "I have such a passion for this tea that it rots my very socks".

It was this passion that inspired masterpieces such as "The Trinity", "The Burial of Count Orgaz" and "Portrait of Norman Wisdom". Many of his contempories tried drinking Lady Grey, but none could match the quality of his artistic output.