NATIONAL GALLERY, Laocoön By El Greco

This painting depicts the death of Laocoön who, according to Greek mythology, was killed together with his two sons by the goddess Athena, who had them strangled by sea serpents for trying to warn the Trojans about the wooden horse ruse devised by Ulysses.

El Greco, otherwise known as Doménikos Theotokópoulos, was born in Crete in 1541, yet lived in Spain, where he died in 1614. Here he offers an interpretation of the myth that breaks away from the classic telling.

Laocoön is on the ground with an expression of anguish and suffering on his face, with one of his sons already dead at his left and the other fighting for his life on the right. Two unfinished nude figures represent two Greek gods who watch impassively as the scene unfolds.

The sky is dark and the clouds menacing. The city of Toledo is in the background, where El Greco lived from when he was 26 years old and which he considered to be his second home....