Laocoön

Rome was jubilant when the antique sculpture Laocoön was unearthed in 1506. Now in the Vatican Museums, the work redefined pathos. It depicts the powerfully muscled Trojan priest Laocoön (lay-ah´-ko-on) and his adolescent sons trapped by two deadly serpents worthy of filmmaker George Lucas. Apparently working from a written description, Hans Brosamer arrived at a less distressing, less majestic interpretation. The abrading between Laocoön’s legs may be the work of a censor who objected to nudity in pagan prints.