Laocoon Reduction Torso with Head - Item #778

  10 Inches High x 7.25 Inches Wide x 5.25 Inches Deep This is a reduction model created by sculptor Ndricim Bejko, who works for the Caproni Collection (formerly the Giust Gallery) and Skylight Studios, Inc. He created it with reference to an original full-size Caproni cast of Laocoön and His Sons. This figure is of the Trojan priest Laocoön from the group Laocoön and his sons. The group represents a scene described in Virgil’s Aeneid in which the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons are set upon by serpents at Poseidon's command as punishment for Laocoön warning the Trojans against the wooden horse. The sculpture group was discovered on January 14, 1506 during an excavation in a vineyard owned by Felice de' Fredis on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It was recognized as the sculpture described by Pliny the Elder as the masterpiece of the sculptors of Rhodes. Pope Julius II purchased it and displayed it in the Statues Courtyard at the Vatican.   Artist: Hagesandros, Athanadoros and Polydoros of Rhodes Museum: Pio Clementino Museum, Vatican Museums, Vatican City Origin: Esquiline Hill, Rome Time Period: Ancient Greek, c. 40-30 B.C.E.   Sources: Collins, Neil. "Laocoon and His Sons." Art Encyclopedia. Visual-arts-cork.com, 2018, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/sculpture/laocoon.htm. "Laocoön." Vatican Museums, http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-pio-clementino/Cortile-Ottagono/laocoonte.html.