“Laocoön and His Sons”, 1st century Roman marble copy of an original Greek hellenistic bronze, found in 1506 during the pontificate of Pope Julius II.
“Laocoön and His Sons”, 1st century Roman marble copy of an original Greek hellenistic bronze, found in 1506 during the pontificate of Pope Julius II.
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The statue was mentioned by Roman writer Pliny the Elder (1st century AD), who saw in the Palatium of the Emperor.
>…the artwork of Laocoön and his sons, beautifully entwined among snakes, which is in the palace of the emperor Titus, is to be placed before all things of art both in painting and in sculpture…
The sculpture was found in 1506 under Julius II and recognized by a team comprising Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti. The son of Giuliano recalled the event:
>The pope was told that certain very beautiful statues had been found in a vineyard near [the basilica of] Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope commanded: ‘Go and tell Giuliano da S. Gallo to go and see immediately’. And so he went immediately. And because Michelangelo Bonarroti was constantly in the house, working for the tomb of the pope, he went too; and I was with my father. And so we went. And I went down to where the statues were, my father immediately said: “This is the Laocoön mentioned by Pliny!” [“Questo è Hilaoconte, che fa mentione Plinio”] and he had it pulled out. And so we went back to dinner, all time talking about ancient things.
to me one of the most beautiful and complex sculpture ever made, thinking this kind of realism was made 2300 years ago…
another great sculpture and sadly not that well know is the [Toro Farnese](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Farnese_Bull_MAN_Napoli_Inv6002_n07.jpg) , who is the largest single sculpture recovered from antiquity
Realy i credable statue.
I know nothing about art but I found this recent thread interesting:
https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1624624879684227072
Gains goals.
I’ve been wrestling with [**War Music**](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/42181/cold-calls-war-music-continued) by Christopher Logue, a modern interpretation of the Iliad.
I was surprised to learn the episode depicted in the statue and the Trojan horse story wasn’t in Homer’s poem at all and is part of another lost poem from The Epic Cycle.
For any who don’t know, a priest of Apollo(?) realizes the Trojans are being idiots by allowing the horse into the City. He throws a spear at it but Athena sends snakes to kill him and his sons, because she favors the Greeks.