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Christ healing the blind was a theme much beloved of the artists of the Catholic Counterreformation. This episode from Christ’s life was considered to symbolise the revelation of faith through the church. In the same way that the blind were given the faculty of sight by Christ, so were the faithful able to recognise the true message of salvation through the power of the church.

El Greco painted this picture in Rome. It reflects his study of the art of the ancient world. The muscular nude figure at the extreme left recalls the Hellenistic statue of Hercules then in the Farnese collection in Rome. The tortured expression on the face of the bearded man is an allusion to the Laocoön group, as is the figure of the youth directly next to Christ. The architecture is similarly a reference to classical antiquity: the columns and gable at the extreme left resemble the Pantheon, the structure behind Christ, the Arch of Constantine, and the buildings in the background, Diocletian’s Baths. El Greco also demonstrates his mastery of perspective, which he gained during his years of apprenticeship in Italy.