The artwork that I am going to focus on is the ancient sculpture of Laocoon and His Sons. The statue was excavated in Rome in 1506 shows the Trojan priest Laocoon and his two sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by sea serpents. The story behind this piece of art is during the Trojan War, Laocoon, who was a priest in the Apollo City warned the Trojans from taking a wooden horse left by Greeks outside their city gates. In an attempt to expose the scheme, Laocoon struck the horse with a spear and was later killed by sea serpents with his sons. The Trojans took the death of the priest as a sign to bring the horse into the city as an offering to Minerva. The Roman’s point of view postulates that the death and suffering of the innocents informed Aenea’s decision to flee Troy and eventually to lead to forming Rome.
The other version claims that Apollo sent two serpents to kill Laocoon and one of his sons because, in the sculpture, one of the sons can be seen break free from the reptiles grasp. The last version behind the art says Laocoon incurred the wrath of Apollo for choosing to marry instead of remaining celibate like it was expected he went further and slept with this wife in the god’s temple and the death served as his punishment.
The artistic trends the piece captures are such as Emotionality. The sculpture has been called the “the prototypical icon of human agony.” Laocoon and the sons’sons’ facial expressions illustrate pain and agony matched with the struggling bodies. It also brings out the concept of beauty in the scene of death. The other key idea that relates to this piece of artwork is the carving techniques that demonstrated the dramatic display of vigorous movement. This artistic trend was used to capture the fleeting mood and momentary expressions. It was also used to indicate that classical idealism had become part of the Hellenistic art. The piece of art uses a broadened range of subjects such as the children and snake to improve the technical virtuosity.
The artwork that shows the connection to the Laocoon and his sons is the Augustus of Primaporta. The piece of art shows similarity only in size, but the visual representation for this piece of sculpture brings out a sense of power and authority compared to Laocoon that represents pain and suffering.
Augustus raises his arm in a gesture of leadership and imperial authority. He wears a breastplate celebrating his victory over the Parthians in 20 B.C.E. At his feet appear Cupid and a dolphin, reminders of his alleged divine descent from Venus—the mother of Aeneas, Rome’sRome’s legendary founder. His handsome face and tall, muscular physique serve to complete the heroic image (Fiero 197).
The other artwork that shows similarities to the Laocoon piece is the Michelangelo’sMichelangelo’s sculpture of David. This larger than life marble piece shows its connection in size and the architecture construction to the Laocoon’s. The piece also uses nude art and erotic representation similar to the Laocoon and his Sons piece. The two works differ in the sense that David’sDavid’s sculpture “is a defiant presence—the offspring of a race of giants. The body of the fearless adolescent, with its swelling veins and taut muscles, is tense and brooding, powerful rather than graceful” (Fiero 470).