Analysis of The Famous Sculpture, Laocoön and his Two...

The piece I decided to analyze is the famous sculpture, Laocoà ¶n and his two sons. I decided on this particular piece for a few reasons, one being the emotion we see on the subjects’ faces, and the other being the importance for future art. When I began this research I could not have possibly understood the relevance this piece had on the art that was yet to come. The Hellenistic period of Greek art spans from the time of Alexander the Great’s death in 323 to 30 B.C.E. (â€Å"Hellenistic Period† 1). However there have been controversies of precisely how long the Hellenistic period lasted. Some argue that from C. 400; to the first century can be classified as â€Å"Pre-Hellenistic† (Janson 138-139). â€Å"Hellenistic, is a term meant to convey the†¦show more content†¦But in 1905 the archeologist, Ludwig Pollack, discovered the original right arm of Laocoà ¶n and it was reconstructed in 1957-60 (â€Å"The Vatican† 185). The style of th is sculpture is immediately classified as Hellenistic, because of the motion on the bodies of Laocoà ¶n and his sons. The agony on their faces portrays the anguish they were feeling at the time of their death, and the bulging muscles, and veins stick out as they try to free themselves of the snakes. The legend says that Laocoà ¶n was a Trojan priest of Apollo. The Greeks who had been trying to sack the city of Troy for years were unsuccessful, and devised a new plan. They created the Trojan horse to offer the city of Troy as a promise to stop the fighting. Laocoà ¶n saw that this was a trap and tried to warn his fellow Trojans of the danger. When he approached the alter of Poseidon to pray, the Gods Athena and Poseidon depending on which version you read, favored the Greeks and decided to punish Laocoà ¶n for his treachery by sending two giant snakes to kill him and his sons. However, there was one Trojan who heeded the warning, his name was Aeneas. Aeneas, fled Troy and this e ventually led to the founding of Rome (â€Å"Musei Vaticani – sito ufficiale†). There are a lot of different theories just on this one story. I have seen that the snakes were sent by Athena, Poseidon, and even Apollo. There is also debate on whether the Trojan horse was a gift to the city of Troy or an offering to the gods.