Laocoön, by El Greco, painted around 1610 to 14. Oil on canvas. The painted surface is about 4 and a half feet high by 5 and a half feet wide.
This description is just under 3 minutes long.
Three people are attacked by serpents in front of a hillside town, while three more people look on from our right. The trio being attacked occupy most of the composition. All the people are close to us, arranged across a dark, rocky ground.
The scene is loosely painted with lively, textured brushwork. The people’s bodies are sinuous and elongated, as they writhe across the scene. Their skin is sickly pale, painted with long streaks of gray and white.
Let’s focus first on the three main characters. Then we’ll turn to those standing to the right. And we’ll finish by describing the background.
At the center of the composition, an older man with white hair and beard is sprawled on his back with his legs angled down towards the left. He struggles to fend off the snake whose rope-like form is twined around his body. The snake’s open jaws snap at his face; his right hand grasps its neck.
Immediately to our right of the older man is the lifeless body of a young man. He lies with his head towards us and his raised knees pointing away.
At the far left, a third man stands facing us. He twists with his arms overhead as he grapples with another snake. The reptile’s body curves in an arc to the right, its head snapping at the man’s waist. The man throws his head back and strains both arms to grip the snake’s body.
Moving now to the far right of the painting, three people stand one in front of the other; two of them are turned to our left to watch the action. One of them, in the middle of the group, looks away, to our right. These characters are even more loosely painted than those with the snakes. The person in front has his back towards us. The other two people stand beyond him, their bodies overlapping.
A hilly townscape extends into the deep distance. Houses are painted loosely in rust red and gray against the grass green hillside. Just to the left of center, a light brown horse approaches the gate of the town.
Above, a deep turquoise sky is piled with gray and white clouds.
