El Greco (1548-1618) was a pupil of the
Venetian artist Titian before he moved on to Toledo, Spain in 1576, where he
remained for the rest of his life. His style heralds the arrival of
the Baroque in Spain, though he is an artist formed by influences as varied as
flat
Byzantine mosaics and frescoes, the Venetian fascination with color and light,
and the expressiveness of the Venetian artists Titian and Tintoretto.
El Greco openly disparaged Michelangelo,
but secretly admired him, and it is from Michelangelo that he derives his strong
sense of design. He studied briefly in Rome and it is on this sojourn that
El Greco must have seen the Laocoon and come to realize the power it had over Michelangelo.
From 1608-1614, he painted The Death of Laocoon and His Sons, now in
the National Gallery in Washington DC. Unlike artists before him, El Greco
is not so concerned with studying the anatomy and bodily positions of the
Laocoon figures. Rather, he enlivens the subject with his use of Mannerist
exaggerations and emotionalism, creating a painting that is a study of the
pathos and fear experienced by Laocoon and his sons as they met their terrible
death.
