Laocoön
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| - | '''Hellenistic sculpture''' repeats the innovations of the "[[second classicism]]": perfect sculpture-[[in the round|in-the-round]], allowing the statue to be admired from all angles; study of draping and effects of transparency of clothing; suppleness of poses. Thus, [[Venus de Milo]], even while echoing a classic model, is distinguished by the twist of her hips. One seeks, above all, expressivity and atmosphere. This search is particularly flagrant in the portraits: more than the precision of the traits represented, the artist seeks to represent the character of his/her subject. In the great statuary, the artist explores themes such as suffering, sleep or old age. One such is the [[Barberini Faun]] of [[Glyptothek|Munich]], representing a sleeping [[satyr]] with relaxed posture and anxious face, perhaps the prey of nightmares. The ''drunk woman'', also at Munich, portrays without reservation an old woman, thin, haggard, clutching against herself her jar of wine. [[Laocoön]], strangled by snakes, tries desperately to loosen their grip without affording a glance at his dying sons. | ||
| - | Pergamon did not distinguish itself with its architecture alone: it was also the seat of a brilliant school of sculpture called [[Pergamene Baroque]]. The sculptors, imitating the preceding centuries, portray painful moments rendered expressive with three-dimensional compositions, often V-shaped, and anatomical hyper-realism. | + | '''Laocoön''' ('''Λαοκόων''' {{IPA-all|laoˈko.ɔːn|}}, English pronunciation {{IPA-en|leɪˈɒkɵ.ɒn|}}), <!--the following needs a citation: son of [[Priam]]-->the son of [[Acoetes]] is a figure in [[Greek mythology]], a [[Troy|Trojan]] [[priest]] of [[Poseidon]], (or [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]), whose rules he had defied, either by marrying and having sons, or by having committed an impiety by making love with his wife in the presence of a [[cult image]] in a sanctuary. His minor role in the [[Epic Cycle]] narrating the [[Trojan War]] was of warning the Trojans in vain against accepting the [[Trojan Horse]] from the [[Greeks]] — "A deadly fraud is this," he said, "devised by the Achaean chiefs!" — and for his subsequent divine execution by two serpents sent to Troy across the sea from the island of Tenedos, where the Greeks had temporarily camped. |
| - | [[Attalus I]] (269-197 BC), to commemorate his victory at Caicus against the [[Gauls]] — called [[Galatia]]ns by the Greeks — had two series of votive groups sculpted: the first, consecrated on the Acropolis of Pergamon, includes the famous [[Ludovisi Gaul|Gaul killing himself and his wife]], of which the original is lost (the best copy is in the [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Massimo_alle_Terme Massimo alle Terme] museum of Rome, see illustration); the second group, offered to Athens, is composed of small bronzes of Greeks, Amazons, gods and giants, Persians and Gauls. [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Artemis_Rospigliosi_Louvre_Ma559.jpg Artemis Rospigliosi] of the [[Louvre]] is probably a copy of one of them; as for copies of the [[Dying Gaul]], they were very numerous in the Roman period. The expression of sentiments, the forcefulness of details — bushy hair and moustaches here — and the violence of the movements are characteristic of the Pergamene style. | + | Laocoön warned his fellow Trojans against the wooden horse presented to the city by the Greeks. In the ''[[Aeneid]]'', [[Virgil]] gives Laocoön the famous line ''[[Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes|Equo ne credite, Teucri / Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes]]'', or "Do not trust the Horse, Trojans / Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts." This line is the source of the saying: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." |
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| - | These characteristics are pushed to their peak in the friezes of the [[Pergamon Altar|Great Altar of Pergamon]], decorated under the order of [[Eumenes II]] (197-159 BC) with a [[gigantomachy]] stretching 110 metres in length, illustrating in the stone a poem composed especially for the court. The [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]] triumph in it, each on his side, over Giants most of which are transformed into savage beasts: serpents, birds of prey, lions or bulls. Their mother [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], come to their aid, can do nothing and must watch them twist in pain under the blows of the gods. | + | |
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| - | Another phenomenon appears in Hellenistic sculpture: privatization, which involves the recapture of older public patterns in decorative sculpture. This type of retrospective style also exists in [[Pottery of ancient Greece|ceramics]]. Portraiture is tinged with naturalism, under the influence of [[Roman art]]. | + | |
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Laocoön (Λαοκόων Template:IPA-all, English pronunciation Template:IPA-en), the son of Acoetes is a figure in Greek mythology, a Trojan priest of Poseidon, (or Neptune), whose rules he had defied, either by marrying and having sons, or by having committed an impiety by making love with his wife in the presence of a cult image in a sanctuary. His minor role in the Epic Cycle narrating the Trojan War was of warning the Trojans in vain against accepting the Trojan Horse from the Greeks — "A deadly fraud is this," he said, "devised by the Achaean chiefs!" — and for his subsequent divine execution by two serpents sent to Troy across the sea from the island of Tenedos, where the Greeks had temporarily camped.
Laocoön warned his fellow Trojans against the wooden horse presented to the city by the Greeks. In the Aeneid, Virgil gives Laocoön the famous line Equo ne credite, Teucri / Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes, or "Do not trust the Horse, Trojans / Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts." This line is the source of the saying: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Laocoön" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
