The story behind the statue of Laocoon and His Sons Sculpture

Laocoon and His Sons Sculpture, also known as the Laocoon Group, is one of the famous marble statues and is now in the Vatican Museums. According to the ancient Roman writer Pliny, the statue is composed of three sculptors from Rhodes island: Hagesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus created, it shows the scene of the Troy priest Laocoon and his two sons Antiphas and Thymbraeus being entangled by the sea snake.

The sculpture is based on the story of the Battle of Troy in Greek mythology. Laocoon warned his compatriots in the Trojan War that it was dangerous to move the Trojans left by the Greeks into the city. Therefore, the Greek god Athena sent two giant pythons to Laocoon, entangled the priest and his two sons.

The marble statue of Laocoon and His Sons Sculpture represents this shocking scene: the giant snake uses its deadly twists to kill Laocoon and his sons, a snake caught in the chest of his younger son, and another snake wrapped around their father’s thigh. Laocoon’s head leaned back, his lips slightly open, his face deformed by pain. The eldest son, who was also entangled in a snake, looked at his father desperately.

The discovery of the statue of Laocoon and His Sons Sculpture had a major impact on the Italian sculptor and the Italian Renaissance process. As we all know, Michelangelo was deeply attracted by the sheer size of the statue and the ancient Greek aesthetics it showed, especially its expression of male physique.

The influence of Laocoon Group was evident in the later works of Michelangelo, such as the rebellious slaves and dying slaves he made for the tomb of Pope Julius II. The tragic elegance of the statue became a subject of Lessing’s work on literature and aesthetics, one of the classics of early art criticism.