This Trinity originally made up part of the high altar of the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo. The design of the altar, a very large and complex project, was El Greco’s first commission in Toledo.

The painting shows God the Father supporting the body of Christ surrounded by angels. Above hovers the dove which symbolises the Holy Spirit. The composition of this Trinity is based on a woodcut of 1511 by Albrecht Dürer. El Greco also included elements with which he was familiar from Venetian and Roman painters. The heavy, sculptural body of Christ in particular reveals the influence of Michelangelo. The light, hard colours and the pronounced twisting of the angel’s bodies are drawn from the Mannerist idiom. With this work El Greco presented himself to his new Spanish public as an exceptionally knowledgeable artist fluent in the varied vocabulary of painterly expression, which he acquired at the Italian centres of artistic activity, Venice and Rome.