Tragically, the work of Parosian marble of the three sculptors "Laocoon and his sons." The sculpture depicts the futile attempts of the father and his children to break out of the mortal embrace of the snakes surrounding their bodies.
Background myth
This story begins in very old days. The beautiful Leda, the wife of Tsar Sparta Tyndareus, had a daughter, Elena, from the god Zeus. When she grew up, she became the most beautiful of all mortals.
A lot of grooms were married to her, but Elena chose the handsome Menelaus. After the death of Tyndareus, he was entrusted with the royal throne.
King Troy had a son Priam. The soothsayer predicted that this boy would destroy all the Trojans. At the direction of the king, he was thrown into the forest so that he would die there, but he grew up into a handsome young man and peacefully herded herds.
Reasons for the start of the war of the Trojans with the Greeks
Three goddesses - Athena, Hera and Aphrodite - received an apple with the inscription “the most beautiful” from the evil goddess of contention Eris. They could not divide it among themselves. The cunning Hermes persuaded Paris to be the judge in their dispute. Aphrodite promised Paris the love of the most beautiful woman, Elena, and received the coveted apple. Paris stole Elena from Greece and took her to Troy. Thus began a long and bloody war between the Trojans and the Greeks for the beautiful Elena.
Athena sided with the Greeks; Apollo helped the Trojans. It is advisable to know when the sculpture "Laocoon" is considered.
Tricks of the Greeks
For a long, very long, ten years the war went on. Troy besieged by the Greeks did not give up. Many heroes died on both sides. The cunning Odysseus came up with how to introduce a Greek detachment of Danians into the besieged city. The Greeks made a huge wooden horse. Athena helped them. They put their warriors in it and resorted to military trick: they boarded their ships and sailed into the sea. With glee, the Trojans went to check the camp of the Greeks and stopped in amazement when they saw a huge horse.
Someone suggested throwing him into the sea, while someone would take him to Troy as a sign of victory. This is a very important point before creating the image of the predictor. Priest Laocoon, whose sculpture will be examined, will not escape the machinations of Athena-Pallas.
The simplicity of the Trojans
Before the fellow citizens came the priest of the god Apollo. The sculpture "Laocoon" shows not this moment. He begged his fellow citizens not to touch the horse, predicted great disasters. Laocoon even threw a spear at the horse, and the metal weapon rang inside. But the mind of the "winners" was completely confused. They did not believe that one should be afraid of Danians who bring gifts. They trusted a stranger who said that the horse should propitiate Athena-Pallas if they took him to them. While he was telling this, a miracle sent by Athena came out of the sea - two giant snakes. This completely convinced the Trojans, and they took the horse to the city.
The Laocoon myth with sons
On the seashore, Poseidon Laocoon prayed with his sons. To them, wreathing bodies with rings and sparkling with red eyes, like coals, crests on their heads, terrible monsters swam faster and faster to the shore. Snakes, climbing out of the sea, attacked the unfortunate. This moment is reflected in the Laocoon sculpture. The snakes wrapped tightly around the people in powerful bodies and are trying to strangle them. Poisonous bites cause not only pain, but also death. All this shows the sculpture "Laocoon." This is what the careless faith in the victory of the inhabitants of Troy led to.
Sculpture Find History
Two thousand two hundred years ago in Pergamum, unknown bronze sculptors cast a sculptural group that depicts the mortal battle of Laocoon and his sons with snakes. The original has disappeared. A copy of it was sculpted in Rhodes in marble by the Greeks. In the Hellenistic Baroque style, the Laocoon (sculpture) came to us. Its author is Agesander of Rhodes and his sons Polydor and Athenodor. She was found in 1506 by Felix de Fridis in the vineyards under one of the Roman hills. There once stood the golden house of Nero. As soon as the pontiff Julius II learned of a valuable find, he immediately sent the architect Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo to evaluate it. The architect immediately verified the authenticity of the work that Pliny described. Buaonorroti determined that it was made of 2 pieces of marble, although Pliny spoke of a solid stone.
Her future fate
At the end of the 18th century, Bonaparte took the sculptural group to Paris. In the Louvre, it was open for inspection, and after the defeat of Napoleon, the British returned to the Vatican. Now she is in the museum of Pius Clement (Vatican).
The right hand of Laocoon was found in 1905 by Czech archaeologist Ludwig Pollack in a Roman masons shop and transferred it to the Vatican Museum. In 1957, it was inserted into a sculptural composition (information taken from an article in the English Digital Sculpture Project: Laocoön).
Several copies have been made from it. Italian - on the island of Rhodes and in the Uffizi Gallery, Moscow - in the Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, Odessa - in front of the museum of archeology.
Laocoon, sculpture: description
If we proceed from the position of G. E. Lessing that painting and sculpture are silent poetry, then the viewer of his own fantasies should be able to agree on what the author did not directly say.
The figure of Laocoon most attracts attention due to the fact that it is located in the center, and also because the authors carefully worked out every muscle of its powerful body. The Trojan is struggling with two huge snakes. Forces already leave him, and he begins to settle on the altar. He is still trying to support himself. The left leg rests with the fingers on the ground. The right leg is bent and touches the altar. The left hand in vain tries to ward off the head of the snake. She is ready to inflict a fatal bite, her mouth is already open and her deadly teeth are visible. Laocoon's right hand is curved and braided with rings of the same snake. His head is turned back. The mouth opened in a grimace of pain and horror from the impending death of the sons, from the intense struggle and awareness of its own imminent death.
So does the soothsayer Laocoon himself. The sculpture, the description of which continues, evokes bitter forebodings of the imminent death of both Laocoon and his sons.
To his right, the youngest son is completely wrapped in snake rings. He raised a trembling right hand, but the serpent had already bitten him in the armpit. The young man begins to fall, moving to the altar, where his father is.
We continue to review the sculptural composition "Laocoon with sons." The description of the sculpture ends.
The elder brother to the left of his father turns his face full of horror, with a dumb request to free him from the snake's tail wrapped around his leg.
He himself can not handle it with one hand. The viewer, however, seems to have a hope of surviving, which, unfortunately, is not true. They all three will die.
I would like to complete the description with two quotes. Euripides: "Nothing pleases the gods more than the sight of human suffering." Sophocles also characterized the Greek gods well: "The gods more willingly help a person when he goes towards his death."
The interest of Roman emperors in this sculpture
The Roman imperial house considered itself the descendants of the Trojans. It was their hero Aeneas, the son of the goddess Venus, who fled to the shores of the Tiber. He married Lavinia and founded a city in her honor (Praktika de Mare). His brother Ascanius founded Alba Longo (now Castel Gandolfo). In this place, after several generations, the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus will be born. Roman emperors boasted that they are descended from the gods.
Viewers reviews
Viewers believe that Lessing is right that when portraying the intense pain that Laocoon is experiencing, the sculpture should be subordinated to the laws of beauty. Laocoon does not scream, but only groans. Athena sent for him an unjust execution. He is guilty only of having warned his fellow citizens against the dangerous gift of the Danians, whom Athena patronized. Man is just a helpless toy in the hands of the gods.