Artist, composer and author lacking answer (2,5)
I believe the answer is:
el greco
'artist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'composer and author lacking answer' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'author' could be 'eco' (I've seen this before) and 'eco' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for el greco that I've seen before include "Sp. painter, born Domen- ikos Theotokopoulos" , "Spanish artist born in Crete" , "Cretan-born Spanish painter, d. 1614" , "Spanish painter, nicknamed for his place of birth" , "Greek born Spanish painter" .)