Laokoon, fragments
- Title:
- Laokoon, fragments
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Hagesandros, Athanadoros, Polydoros of Rhodes
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
probably first half of the 1st c. CE (Roman)
perhaps after mid 2nd c. BCE original (Hellenistic Greek)
2008 (image)
- Site:
- Esquiline Hill, Rome, Italy (discovery site, 1506) (original)
- Location:
- Warehouse (exhibited temporarily at Weinhold Chilled Water Plant, Nov. 2014-June 2015)
Esquiline Hill, Rome, Italy (discovery site, 1506) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0164
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 340
263 incised in cast on join of torso of smaller boy and on the snakes
same number in black paint, also on left arm and torso, calf, right shoulder, snake, right elbow, boy's right arm
340 (new sticker in front), 169 on calf, snake
164 - File Name:
- CCC_0164.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 184 (H) cm (complete statue)
- Culture:
- Roman, perhaps after Hellenistic Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, inspired by Hellenistic Baroque
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Laocoon (Greek mythology)
Trojan War - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- with plinth: 126 x 92 x 80 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of the famed statue group of Laokoon and his two sons attacked by serpents, unearthed in Rome in 1506 and housed in the Vatican Museums. Prior to conservation in the winter of 2014-2015 Cornell's cast of the Laokoon was in very poor and fragmentary condition [need more on condition to add here]. As complete, the group consists of three figures intertwined with two large snakes. At the center of the composition, Laokoon, nude and muscular, falls back on a drapery-strewn altar as he struggles with the snake poised to bite him. His right arm is bent back and missing the hand in the original and he grips the snake with his left hand, held at hip-level. He looks skyward with an expression of intense agony and pleading. He is flanked by his sons, who are diminutive in size but who appear as young men rather than boys. The son on the viewer's left of Laokoon falls backwards with his head back, his torso and legs twisted around by a snake. He, too, appears in agony with a dramatically furrowed brow and, with a slack jaw, is perhaps in the moment of succumbing to the snake. The son on the viewer's right of Laokoon leans outward, turns his head to look up at his father, and seemingly reaches toward him with his missing right hand. Drapery falls from his left shoulder to the ground. The snakes are twisted around his right arm and his left foot. He lifts his leg up and attempts to free his foot from the snake. His expression, too, is pained and fearful. Over the centuries, the original has undergone several restorations as well as the the removal of many restorations.
The date of the work in the Vatican has long been debated. In style, it shares great affinities with works of the Hellenistic Baroque period of the 2nd c. BCE, particularly the Altar of Zeus from Pergamon. The work is perhaps a 1st c. CE Roman copy of a Hellenistic Baroque original or a Roman adaptation of a work of the Hellenistic period.
Brief description and condition of the cast from initial cataloging:
Laokoon and his sons: 10 small fragments of snakes and legs of escaping boy
other fragments include: left arm of Laokoon with snakes, torso of Laokoon with snakes, foot of Laokoon, calf of Laokoon, right shoulder of Laokoon, snake fragments, drapery fragments, left and right legs of boys, boy's elbows and arm, snake head. Bad condition
lower part (Laokoon and son) extremely damaged
head going with torso of Laokoon broken off (in dendro lab)
left foot of Laokoon broken at ankle
part of left leg (calf) broken at ankle
right shoulder broken), upper arm broken, one piece of snakes with jutting metal and wooden dowel
one piece of snake repaired from bottom
snake and broken right elbow with protruding dowel
fingers of both boys' hands broken with metal dowel in one, second broken at forearm
torso of elder, fleeing son missing left leg and part of torso, right leg missing from knee, torso has repairs, right arm missing from upper arm, left arm missing from elbow - Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
nos. 1059, 1064, 1067 - Bibliography:
- J. J. Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 120-126
Seymour Howard, "On the Reconstruction of the Vatican Laocoon Group," AJA 63 (1959), 365-369
Seymour Howard, "Laocoon Rerestored," AJA 93 (1989), 417-422 - Related Work:
- Catalogued fragments of the Laokoon: ID nos. 164, 164a, 306 (possibly), 372, 468.
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Rome, Vatican Museums (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.