Hang Around the World: Painting #036

El Greco

(1541–1614, Greek-Spanish)

Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance.

Laocoön

Showing the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons being attacked by sea serpents……

Laokoon

- El Greco

- oil on canvas (142 x 193 cm) 1610

- The National Gallery of Art (Washington)

Compare with:

Laocoön and His Sons

- Hagesandros, Athenedoros & Polydoros

- marble (208 × 163 × 112 cm) early first century BCE

- Vatican Museums (Vatican City)

Copy after an Hellenistic original from ca. 200 BC, found in the Baths of Trajan, 1506:

The Laocoön Group
as it was between c.1540 & 1957,
with Laocoön's extended arm;
the sons' restored arms were removed in the 1980s.

View of Toledo

View of Toledo

- El Greco

- oil on canvas (121.3 × 108.6 cm) 1596-1600

- Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC)

It is among the best known depictions of the sky in Western art, along with Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, some landscapes by William Turner, and some works by Monet. It features sharp color contrast between the sky and the hills below.

Toledo Cathedral

(L) The Main Façade (R) Retable

(L) The Chapterhouse

(R) The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio)

- El Greco

- oil on canvas (285 x 173 cm) 1577-79

- Toledo Cathedral (Toledo)

The man in armor looks like El Greco himself.

Holy Trinity

The Holy Tninity
- El Greco
- oil on canvas (300 x 179 cm) c.1577-79
- Museo del Prado (Madrid)

Originally, part of altarpiece for the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos.

The Nobleman

The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest
- El Greco
- oil on canvas (81 × 66 cm) c.1580
- Museo del Prado (Madrid)

Adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus

The Adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus
- El Greco in 1577-79
- oil & egg tempera on pine (140 × 110 cm)
- Monasterio de El Escorial (Madrid)

This painting may have been made as a record of a larger work by El Greco in the Escorial (see photo below), which he probably painted for Philip II, King of Spain.

Monasterio de El Escorial

The letters ‘IHS’ (at the top of the painting) – which stand for IHSOUS, the Greek spelling of ‘Jesus’ – are its main focus.

The figures in the bottom left-hand corner are the members of the so-called Holy League, which was established, in the words of Phillip II, ‘to defend the holy name’ of Christ. They include the Doge (elected head) of Venice, Pope Pius V and Philip II himself (kneeling and in black gown).

The painting celebrates their victory (Spanish Catholic's) against the Islamic Ottoman Empire in a naval Battle at Lepanto, in Greece, in 1571.