Laocoön (El Greco) turmoil. The dark, sinister rocks of the foreground add to the intense emotional atmosphere. El Greco places the classical subject against a gloomy view of Toledo. El Greco’s use of Toledo as the backdrop for his depiction of Laocoön’s death may be based on local folklore that the people of Toledo descended from the Trojans. In the painting, the Trojan horse moves towards the city, a reminder of Laocoön’s failed attempt to convince his countrymen of the trap. El Greco portrays the city Toledo as a world of suffering, using color to create a sense of doom. The high horizon
Dormition of the Virgin (El Greco) Dormition of the Virgin (El Greco) El Greco painted his Dormition of the Virgin near the end of his Cretan period, probably before 1567. El Greco's signature on the base of the central candelabrum was discovered in 1983. The discovery of the "Dormition" led to the attribution of three other signed works of "Doménicos" to El Greco ("Modena Triptych", "St. Luke Painting the Virgin and Child", and "The Adoration of the Magi") and then to the acceptance as authentic of more works, signed or not (such as "The Passion of Christ (Pietà with Angels)," painted in 1566). This discovery constituted