El Greco's Laocoon

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I chose El Greco’s Laocoon, this painting was and still seems very strange to me. This is why I chose it, I really wanted to find out what the painting really meant, what it was all about, and I wanted to figure out what El Greco was thinking when he made this painting. My first guess was that it is a mythological painting knowing that el Greco was Greek and very proud of it. I looked into it and found out that it is el Greco’s only surviving mythological painting.
The mythological story is about Laocoon who was a priest in toy that was trying to warn his fellow countrymen about the Trojan horse. Laocoon was punished by the gods that sent snakes out of the sea to kill him and his two sons. The painting was made in (1610 - 1614). The painting …show more content…

El Greco was very proud of his Greek culture and heritage. El Greco always signed his works in his full name and with Greek characters. His real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos and when he signed his works this was the name he used. All of El Greco’s works were in the “Venetian Renaissance Style” of painting.
El Greco’s was commissioned in Spain to do an altar piece for the high alter and the two lateral alters, for the church Santo Domingo el Antiguo. The church Domingo el Antiguo is located in the city were El Greco’s death happened; this city is Toledo, Spain. This commission was his very first in Spain, and it was the most important commission he had ever had in his life time so far. The painting that El Greco did was called the “Assumption of the Virgin”
At about the same time that the “Assumption of the Virgin” was made, he made the Espolio. The Espolio is Spanish for “The Disrobing of Christ” The Espolio showed the elongating of the bodies of humans (like many other paintings done by El Greco). The elongating of the body was really emphasized in the fingers, and in the person’s legs. Another example of this Technique is the painting named St. Sebastian, also by El

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