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Laocoön and His Sons

Laocoön and His Sons is a Greek sculptural group of controversial date, usually considered an original work from the early Christian era. Unearthed in Rome in 1506, it became one of the most famous ancient sculptures and is very likely the work praised by Pliny the Elder. Carved in white marble and measuring 2.42 m high, it is slightly larger than life-size. The sculpture depicts the death of the Trojan priest Laocoön, punished by the gods to die strangled by sea serpents alongside his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus. It is now in the Pio-Clementino Museum of the Vatican Museums in Rome.

Laocoön and His Sons marble sculpture showing three figures entwined by serpents.
Laocoön and His Sons, with the three figures struggling against snakes in a dramatic marble group.
© · CC BY-SA 3.0
Laocoön and His Sons, a white marble sculpture of three figures struggling against coiling snakes.
Laocoön and His Sons shown in a dramatic marble scene of struggle with serpents.
August 2011 © · CC BY 2.0
Laocoön and His Sons sculpture showing three male figures struggling against coiling snakes.
Laocoön and His Sons, a dramatic classical sculpture of Laocoön and his two sons entangled by serpents.
1907 © Catsimpoolas, Nicholas · Public domain
Laocoön and His Sons marble sculpture with a muscular male figure and two younger figures entwined by serpents in an arched gallery
Laocoön and His Sons displayed on a marble pedestal in an arched gallery.
June 2014 © · CC BY-SA 2.0
Laocoön and His Sons shown in a grayscale illustration, with three figures entangled in snakes.
Laocoön and His Sons depicted in a grayscale book illustration, with the three figures struggling against the serpents.
© Johannes Adolf Overbeck · Public domain

Identification

TitleLaocoön and His Sons
Original language titleLaocoonte y sus hijos
Original Polish nameGrupa Laokoona
TypeAncient sculpture group
Alternative namesLaocoön Group; Laocoonte; Laocoon; Gruppo del Laocoonte

Historical context

Culture/originGreek
StyleHellenistic Pergamene Baroque
DatingDisputed; proposed dates range from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD, with a Julio-Claudian date (27 BC to 68 AD) currently preferred
Possible original date hypothesisAround 140 BC or around 200 BC for a possible earlier Hellenistic bronze original
Possible later date hypothesisEarly Imperial period; some estimates place it between 40 BC and 37 AD, or more broadly in the 70s AD

Creator

Pliny's attributionPliny the Elder attributed the work to three Rhodian sculptors and praised it highly in Natural History, Book 36
Pliny's description limitsPliny did not state the date or patron
Sculptors' schoolRhodian school
Attributed sculptorsAgesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of Rhodes

Discovery and provenance

Discovery date14 January 1506
Discovery placeA vineyard on the Oppian Hill in Rome, on land belonging to Felice de Fredis, near Nero's Domus Aurea
DiscovererFelice de Fredis
Condition when discoveredBroken into five pieces; Laocoön and one son were missing right arms, the other son was missing a right hand, and some serpents were also incomplete
Identification at discoveryGiuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo identified the fragments as the Laocoön described by Pliny the Elder
Ancient locationPossibly in the palace of Emperor Titus on the Oppian Hill
Provenance after antiquityAfter Pliny's account, the group disappeared for about 1,400 years and was known only from ancient descriptions until its rediscovery in 1506
AcquisitionBought immediately by Pope Julius II for 4,140 ducats
Vatican transferMoved to the Vatican in 1509 with the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus Felix

Location and ownership

Current locationMuseo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome
Display location in the VaticanInitially displayed in the Belvedere complex, including the Octagonal Courtyard and the Cortile delle Statue
Collection significanceOne of the most important works in the papal collection and a founding piece of the Vatican Museums

Physical characteristics

ConditionGenerally in excellent condition for an excavated sculpture, though several parts are missing
Height2.42 m; slightly larger than life-size

Materials

Back material evidenceThe back includes Lunense marble, which was not used before the mid-1st century BC
Primary materialWhite marble

Technique

Construction notePliny said it was carved from a single block, including the main figure, the children, and the serpents
Copying/production hypothesisSome scholars think it is a marble copy of an earlier bronze original
Casting evidenceSome details suggest lost-wax casting, especially the cloak over the younger son's right shoulder

Appearance

Scale relationshipThe sons are smaller than their father, increasing the impact of the central figure
DepictionLaocoön, a priest of Apollo, and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being strangled by two sea serpents
Noted facial detailLaocoön's bulging eyebrows were described by Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne de Boulogne as physiologically impossible
Expressive treatmentA dramatic struggle conveyed through contorted facial expressions and strained, struggling bodies

Iconography and meaning

Interpretive significanceCalled the prototypical icon of human agony in Western art
Relation to Christian artUnlike Christian depictions of the Passion and martyrs, the suffering here offers no redemption or reward
PunishmentApollo sent serpents to kill Laocoön's sons; Laocoön died while trying to save them
Cause of punishmentApollo's anger is explained either by Laocoön's marriage and children or by his throwing a spear at the Trojan Horse
Mythological sourceA Trojan War legend also recounted in Virgil's Aeneid

Significance

Art-historical significanceOne of the most famous, controversial, and influential ancient sculptures; admired for its realism, expressiveness, and Hellenistic baroque style
ReceptionFrequently studied, widely copied, and an inspiration for artists and theorists including Lessing, Michelangelo, Titian, El Greco, Raphael, Bernini, Boselli, Winckelmann, and Goethe
Lessing connectionInspired Lessing's Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry (1766), a key text of art criticism

History and restoration

Ancient modificationsThe group appears to have undergone adjustments in antiquity
Early restorationAfter excavation, the missing arms and fingers were restored, first possibly by Baccio Bandinelli
Montorsoli restorationIn 1532, Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli restored Laocoön's right arm in terracotta and extended it
Cornacchini restorationIn the 18th century, Agostino Cornacchini replaced the terracotta arm and the son's marble arm with extended versions because the group had deteriorated
Restoration controversyThere was debate over whether Laocoön's missing right arm originally bent behind his shoulder or extended outward
Michelangelo's restoration proposalMichelangelo proposed a bent right arm and made such an arm, but it was not attached until modern restoration
Original arm rediscoveryLudwig Pollak found Laocoön's original right arm in 1905 or 1906; it was bent, as Michelangelo had suggested
Napoleonic seizureTaken to Paris by Napoleon's army in 1798 under the Treaty of Tolentino as war booty
Paris displayDisplayed in the Louvre Museum and became an inspiration for French Neoclassicism
Return and modern restorationReturned to the Vatican in 1815 or 1816; after return the added elements were reattached, and in 1957-1960 Filippo Magi removed non-original additions and reattached the bent original arm