A group of a dying father and his sons.

Laocoon was a priest who advised against letting the wooden horse inside Troy, warning of “Greeks bearing gifts”. Not only was he ignored but the gods, taking the Greek side in the myth, sent serpents to kill him and his sons.

This group is thought to be a Roman adaptation, adding the second son, of a Hellenistic original. It has long been admired for the realism of its anatomy and for the variety of expression in the faces and figures; one beaten, one suffering, and one perhaps escaping. It is thought that the upper arm should be bent to the head, not extended as in this cast.

Sculptures like the Laocoon were considered the pinnacle of Greek sculpture, even if seen only in Roman replication, up to the early years of the nineteenth century. The philhellene movement gathered strength after that, and led to the rise in admiration for the more austere originals of Periklean Athens, at the expense of Laocoon and similar works