Laocoon by El Greco Postcard

Laocoön by El Greco is an oil painting on canvas from c. 1510 - 1514 depicting the ancient story from the Trojan War of Laocoön and his sons. As told in the Aeneid of Virgil and other sources, the invading Greek armies fooled the people of Troy to take the Trojan Horse inside of their city. The priest of Poseidon Laocoon warned the people that the horse was a trap, and in vengeance the gods sent deadly serpents to kill Laocoon and his two sons. The expressive, elongated figures that fill the foreground of the painting writhe as they are bitten by serpents. The figures floating on the right are likely the gods who sent punishment. The Trojan Horse rolls on in the distance, in a dark landscape that resembles El Greco’s famous View of Toledo. Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541 - 1614) was born on the island of Crete where he apprenticed as a painter of religious icons in the Byzantine tradition. As a young man he studied in Venice under Titian and the painters of the Venetian Renaissance and became known by the moniker El Greco, "The Greek". El Greco permanently settled in Toledo, Spain, where he produced most of his famous paintings and worked also as a sculptor and architect. El Greco's unique manner defies classification, incorporating elements of the Italian and Spanish Renaissance, Byzantine art, Mannerism, and Expressionism. El Greco remained somewhat obscure until the 19th and 20th centuries, when his paintings profoundly influenced the rising modern artists.