How Does Laocoön's Ability To Provide A Historical Figure

Kaitlyn Coleman
Art History
The deeper equation of Laocoön and His Sons

Three-dimensional statues harbor the ability to capture in depth scenes giving a powerful appeal to historical figures and allowing them to communicate both factual and fictional scenes. In Greek sculptor’s Athenodoros, Polydorus, and Agesander of Rhodes’ piece titled, Laocoön and His Sons (Fig.1), also known as the Laocoön Group, the artists created a three-dimensional statue of three men whose bodies are ensnared by two serpents, the man in the middle being the representation of the Trojan priest, Laocoön and the other two men on either side of him being his sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, using marble as their medium. To understand the Laocoön Group
is to look past it’s tragic physical impression of what appears to be a mere scene of torment and anguish carved into marble and envision the actual story behind the frozen piece.
The many additive elements of the statue giving the ability to take the naked eye on a visual expedition whether it is through the litheness of the serpentine bodies as they weave in and out of each figure or though the various expressions adorned on each of the faces as if the figures themselves were to come alive. While the marble statue of the Laocoön Group is suggested to have been discovered to date as far back as 40-20 BCE, the era of which the statue was created, is constantly being debated on. Along with the question of whether or not Athenodoros, Polydorus, and Agesander’s Laocoön Group was an inspired piece or in fact a work of originality. Regardless, this statue holds a looming significance that once served as a blatant reminder to the many Romans that the presence of the Gods was ever existent and undoubtedly so after the Trojan War. This historical background reveals that Laocoön after his means of attempting to reveal the truth behind the infamous Trojan Horse was soon to meet his demise. By divulging into the writings of old scholars
will the deep meaning and understanding of the Laocoön Group be revealed in a new light. This helping to bring out the true essence of the Hellenistic art feel in the form of expressionism and iconography that can only be fully understood by delving into the roots of the statue and breaking it down from the physical meaning to the historical one. (Legge, 224)
In this sculpture, expressionism is an important characteristic to the statue. The Laocoon Group exemplifies the methods used by artists to provide a multitude of artistic elements. The facial features and movement of the bodies is meant to entice a series of feelings ranging from dread to damnation and even a possible sliver of hope. The mouth does not portray a scream, but rather a suffocating sigh of desolation. Physical pain and unwavering spirit are equally distributed throughout the statue neither of the two overcoming the other and inspiring the viewer to be just as unyielding to a similar form torment as Laocoön. (Goethe & John,81) Noticeable is the composition in the Laocoön Group. In the middle, Laocoön is colossal in comparison to the two sons beside him. The sons are clearly not children, so it is left to believe that the focal point in the statue was meant to be Laocoön. (Brilliant,10) By looking deeper into the expressed torment and anguish of the Laocoön Group it is noticed that the negative emotions actually provide the statue with a form of beauty. The most important characteristic of the state being the motion that is found in it; A scene frozen forever in time. The serpent at the father Laocoön’s side is not fully acting on its intention to inflict pain upon him, but expressing the very moment in which the potentially fatal and inevitable wound that is about to be upon his body. Serpentine jaws yet to meet skin. (fig.3) “…the body flies towards the opposite side, and retires; the shoulder presses downwards, the chest is thrust forward, and the head inclines on the side which has been touched.” (Goethe & John, 82) The entirety of what unfolds in the scene at hand is left to the viewer’s imagination. The amount of attention paid to the accuracy of the smaller details in the body of Laocoön (fig.4) are the most striking and show a complete understanding of the anatomy; the expression of the muscles not leaving the facial features to be the only key factor that validates and displays this agony. (Legge, 227) Goethe as well compliments several points in the anatomy of the statue. The muscles and quite notable the legs of each male are what truly stand out. Each of the figures has a different unique quality to their legs. For instance, the right leg of the oldest son portrays a sustainable elegance, both of the legs of Laocoön show a strong attractiveness (fig.5); while the younger son’s legs, although not elegant, specialize in a more natural and endearing look. (Goethe & John, 87) “The pain which displays itself in every muscle and sinew in the body, and which fancy might also detect in the very contractions of the abdomen, independent of the countenance and other parts, is yet expressed without extravagance either in the face or in the attitude.” (Lessing, 2) The energy displayed from a single emotion of one individual is quickly translated to the others surrounding the mentioned one, enticing the viewer’s vision towards that emotion of the whole piece if they don’t actually know any of the details behind the statue’s story. (Goethe, 85) One of the most primal aspects in marble statue is the altar (fig.5) in which Laocoön unwillingly submits to. This part of the statue providing a firmness to the presentation of the piece rather than leaving the figures in a buckling state. In Legge’s opinion, even a slight of hope, but in order to truly be able to take in the full story of the sculpture, individuals must view it in a straight forward manner.(Brillant, 9) As the snakes wrap around the family’s limbs, one can imagine the exhaustion of them as they have tried to stave off the creatures. The son to the right of Laocoön, the youngest, cannot fight them off any longer; while the son to the left, the oldest, shows signs that he may escape death. Another important trait in both story and composition of the Laocoön Group is given to the role of the serpents. The serpents that lead an evident ensnaring movement to the statue, beckoning the viewer’s eye to follow the lithe bodies of the serpents as they tangle around the limbs of the family, and merge the bodies together, leading the eyes to follow suit from one individual to the next. (Legge, 227) Each part of the statue holds an emotional significance and a significant element of art. The portrayal of the bodies and key details in the muscles, along with the facial features transform the statue into a true visual masterpiece of expression.
There are arrays of different interpretations of what the Iconography of Laocoön and His Sons truly means.
Like most of the marble statues created, the inspiration was derived from a story of Greek mythology. Taking a figure and situation from actual history and exaggerating it to the point where it is has fictional aspects, but still leads the person from history to his true end. In this case, the story that brought upon the foundation of Laocoön and His Sons summoned by Virgil, serpents arose from the folds of the waves of the ocean, immediately attacking both of Laocoön’s sons and not a moment later, Laocoön himself henceforth bringing upon the very scene the artist’s meant to depict. As mentioned before, each of the individual family members is displayed as being trapped in their own region of pain in the tale. In fact, this may have been the artists of Rhodes’ very intention. Goethe believes that the artist’s possible goal was to exhibit the different forms of terror throughout each figure’s body. (Goethe & John, 86) Antiphantes (fig.2) appears to be unscathed, his fate not yet sealed by the jaws of the serpents, giving the idea of liberation. (338, Friedrichs) Richard Brilliant believes that the minor spacing between Antiphantes and Laocoön provides a form of evidence that suggests that Antiphantes escaped further harm. Backing this up, some versions of the family’s story states that Antiphantes survives. (Brilliant, 10) Whilst his brother, Thymbraeus (fig.3) on the
other hand is being bitten by the other serpent, his head pulled back, not in concern for his father’s health, but for his own as the creature brings him to his inevitable death. The centerfold of the agony being the priest and father himself, Laocoön. Laocoön’s face communicates certain misery, agony, and surprise at the basis for such an atrocious attack. With the story’s scenes many can decipher other possible endings to each of the family members. The attitudes of the serpents could change and after attacking Laocoön, the single serpent could retreat from his body and move onto Antiphantes and bring about his end, ruining the assumption that he escaped from harm and essentially switching Laocoön and Antipahntes’ positions; allowing Laocoön to then physically express his concern for both of the figures beside him. This would then demote Laocoön’s importance in the scene and strip the statue in all of its entirety of any hope. (Goethe & John, 85) It is important to know the status of Laocoön because that leads into his visual appearance. For instance, Laocoön is notably naked and being a priest, he should have been dressed in his traditional robes, but because of the nature of the statue, the nude appearance serves as a part of his punishment. (Lessing, 69) A series of emotions play out on Laocoön and his son’s visage. The surprise and confusion possibly echoing from the knowledge that their deities have turned against them and realizing that they have no one to turn to in their dire time of need as the serpents coil around their forms. (Fig.3) This meaning that not only is Laocoön in physical pain, but in emotional turmoil as well. The Laocoön Group’s iconographic portral is an endless line of possibilities that leave the viewer to create his or her own ending.
Whilst Athenodoros, Polydorus, and Agesander are in fact the creators of the marble Laocoön Group, whether it was an original idea or an mimicked piece has been up for discussion ever since the discovery of a variety of other Laocoön Group statues in the several different areas. Whilst Lessing believes that the ones who assume that the marble Laocoön Group to be a distinct copy of a statue from an early period are in the wrong, their only evidence to their appeal being that the statue was too intriguing for its late time period. Even though they were inspired by a base idea, the Rhodes sculptors were able to form their own portrayal of the piece using a different medium and method, not merely copying the work of to have conveying it to a different piece. Every thought they put into the making and details of the piece belonging to the Rhodes sculptors themselves. (Lessing, 74) Laocoön serves as a reminder to Roman’s Friederichs believes that the Laocoön expresses too much anguish to be a work of Greek art originated from the Hellenistic Era when Greek art transformed and the romanticized forms of earlier periods, into a more free flowing passionate art that held a free sensation, whilst keeping a number of the features of preceding periods. “Had their works been known in Greece in earlier times, Pausanians could not but have seen some of them and have recorded them at earlier times.” (Lessing, 275-276) This meaning that the Laocoön Group would have been seen in earlier texts that talked about the statue. Another argument goes against Lessing’s idea that the origin of the statue was of Roman time. But it has been found that similar statues that hold certain details similar to the Laocoön Group come from the Greek area. Porter states,
“It is not clear that Laocoön displays a resistance to pain sufficient to graduate him from an exemplum doloris to a stoic exemplum virtutis. Supporters of this view and of Winkelmann’s peculiar idea that he is merely “sighing” must explain why his facial expression resembles that of the Red Marsyas.”(porter, 151)
Porter also proclaims that Romans were not huge fans of the despair the Laocoön Group expresses. (Porter, 151) A lot of the evidence points more towards the Greece time period. Despite all the accusations it is clear that the Laocoön Group both holds aspects of the Roman and Greek art periods and in the meantime will be shrouded in mystery.
In conclusion, it is evident that the Laocoön Group holds a powerful variation of different perspectives. From the expressions sported on each male’s face to the gracefulness of the composition provided by their bodies, along with the visible motions of the muscles are all required to fully appreciate the sculpture. A mass majority of the scholars can agree that the statue’s magnificence is one with deep significant meaning. The only difference in their opinions being that each one holds a different insight on what the most valued and thought provoking aspect of the statue is. Not only through the portrayal of expressionism, such as the composition that the anguish writhing bodies of Laocoön and his sons provide along with the , but through the unspoken iconography as to why Laocoön and his sons are in the frozen epidemic. By looking past the Laocoön Group being just a marble statue, one can pinpoint the historical significance in the statue and unveil the hidden messages that alter the vision of the Laocoön and His Sons and various emotions displayed across the facial features and notify why they are respectfully present in both the anatomy from one family member to the next.
Works Cited

Brilliant, Richard. My Laocoön: Alternative Claims in the Interpretation of Artworks. N.p.: U of California, 2000. Print.

Friederichs, Karl, and D. Cady Eaton. Hand-book of Greek and Roman Sculpture. Boston: J.R. Osgood, 1884. Print.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von, and John Gage. Goethe on Art. Berkeley: U of California, 1980. Print.

Legge, Helen Edith. A Short History of Ancient Greek Sculptors. London: T.F. Unwin, 1903. Print.

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, and William C. Ross. Laocoon: Or, The Limits of Poetry and Painting. London: J. Ridgway & Sons, 1836. Print.

Porter, James I. Classical Pasts: The Classical Traditions of Greece and Rome. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2006. Print.

Figure 1. S. Sosnovskiy. The Laocoon Group. 2005 Rome, Vatican Museums, Pio-Clementine Museum, Octagonal Court. http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=1372

Figure 2 S. Sosnovskiy. The Laocoon group. Detail. Laocoon. 2008. Rome, Vatican Museums, Pio-Clementine Museum, Octagonal Court. Ancientrome.ru http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=262

Figure 3. S. Sosnovskiy. The Laocoon group. Detail. Serpent. 2008 Rome, Vatican Museums, Pio-Clementine Museum, Octagonal Court. Ancientrome.ru http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=2333

Figure 4. Nick Thompson. Laocoön VI. 2006. Vatican Museum. Flickr.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/33563858@N00/344476359

Figure 5. Nick Thompson. Laocoön VI. 2006. Vatican Museum. Flickr.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/344474311/in/photostream/

Figure 6. S. Sosnovskiy. The Laocoon Group Detail. 2008. Rome, Vatican Museums, Pio-Clementine Museum, Octagonal Court. Ancientrome.ru http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=2337

Figure 7 I. Sh. Laocoon (close-up). 2013. Rome, Vatican Museums. Ancientrome.ru http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=5435