Laocoön
Maker
Fonderia Chiurazzi
(Italian, founded 1870)
Dateearly 20th century
MediumBronze
Dimensions89 x 67 x 35 in. (226.1 x 170.2 x 88.9 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN5084
Inspired by narratives of the Trojan War, this sculpture group illustrates the moment when the Trojan priest Laocoön, together with his sons, is attacked by two serpents. Depending on the ancient source, Laocoön is cast either as the casualty of an unjust fate, having just denounced the Greek gift horse as a fraud, or as a transgressor punished for some personal slight against the gods. While Laocoön and his younger son (on the left) are most surely close to death, the older son appears to be in the act of escaping the serpents’ coils. Discovered in 1506 in a private garden in Rome and promptly moved to the Belvedere gardens at the Vatican, this statue exercised a profound influence on Renaissance and Baroque art.
On View
On view
