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
The Tears of Saint Peter (El Greco, Mexico City) the Museo Soumaya, where it still hangs. The Tears of Saint Peter (El Greco, Mexico City) The Tears of Saint Peter or Penitent Saint Peter is a c.1587-1596 painting by El Greco. It is similar to other works on the same subject by the artist, such as those in the Bowes Museum, the El Greco Museum, the national museum in Stockholm and others. This version seems to have belonged to the marqués de Legarda, who kept it in Vitoria. Electra Havemeyer acquired it in 1909 and then in 1930 by the Florida-based Cuban collector Oscar B. Cintas, who restored it.