Laocoon (Laocoön and His Sons) | |||||||||||
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| Properties |
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| Name of Work | Laocoon (Laocoön and His Sons) | ||||||||||
| Production Date | 1st century BCE to 1st century CE | ||||||||||
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| Media Types | marble | ||||||||||
| General Notes | A marvel that it even exists after all this time and neglect. | ||||||||||
Description
A monumental, life-size marble sculpture of stunning complexity and three-dimensionality. It depicts Laacoon with his sons who are involved in a death and life struggle with a giant serpent, and are not winning.
Theme
The heroic but agonizing defeat of Men. This sculpture certainly represents at the same time the heroic nature of men but cast into an impossible situation that can only be tragic.
Emotional Sum or Sense-of-life
Life is a desperate, agonizing struggle.
Context Information
Unearthed in Rome in 1506, mostly intact despite its fragility and compositional complexity.
Scale
