Was “Laocon” a Renaissance Forgery?
Was “Laocon” a Renaissance Forgery? Monday April 18, 2005#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3) In the Vatican Museum stands a magnificent sculpture, nearly 8 feet tall, of the Trojan priest Laocoön. Flanking him are his two sons, and attacking them all are writhing sea snakes sent, it is said, as punishment for breaking his oath of celibacy as well as warning against admitting the Trojan horse into the city. The statue was discovered on the Esquiline Hill in January of 1506, whereupon Pope Julius II — a noted patron of the arts — dispatched the architect Giuliano da Sangallo to examine it. Giuliano brought along Michelangelo. Giuliano and Michelangelo determined that the statue was one described by Pliny the Elder in his 1st-century work, Natural History, as carved by eminent craftsmen of Rhodes. Laocoön was brough
