Laocoön: A Painting by El Greco
The artist’s sole venture into mythology
Domenikos Theotokopoulos was born on the Greek island of Crete in 1541 and, despite spending much of his life in other countries, particularly Spain, he clung tenaciously to his Greek identity. It is therefore unsurprising that the Spaniards, who found his name difficult to pronounce, should have given him the nickname “El Greco” — The Greek — and that is how he has been referred to ever since.
El Greco left his native island to travel first to Venice, where he studied with Titian, then to Rome, where he mingled with the foremost scholars in the city. But his name is inextricably linked with Toledo, then the intellectual and spiritual centre of Spain and the city where he settled in his late 30s. Under the patronage of the powerful Spanish Church, he produced an extraordinary and original series of religious works, in a style that became all his own thanks to his combination of several traditions that were being followed at the time.
El Greco was celebrated during his own lifetime, but subsequent generations, finding his distorted forms and strident colours difficult to understand, labelled him mad. It was only in the 20th century that interest in him revived and his reputation was restored.
