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119-641: The Laocoön Group has been called "the prototypical icon of human agony" in Western art . Unlike the agony often portrayed in Christian art depicting the Passion of Jesus and martyrs , the suffering shown in this statue offers no redemptive power or reward. The agony is conveyed through the contorted expressions on the faces, particularly Laocoön's bulging eyebrows, which were noted by Guillaume Duchenne de Boulogne as physiologically impossible. These expressions are mirrored in

238-413: A metope from the first temple dedicated to Hera at Foce del Sele , which shows Heracles holding a large figure by the hair, while stabbing him with a sword. Such a scene is also depicted on several shield-band reliefs from Olympia (B 1801, B 1010). A terracotta frieze (Basel BS 318) and the sixth century BC pots show a reclining Alcyoneus. And on some of the pots Alcyoneus is apparently sleeping, with

357-464: A Giant, although the description of him as "huge as a mountain", his use of a rock as a weapon, and the location of the battle at Phlegra, the usual site of the Gigantomachy, all suggest that he was. Scholia to Pindar tell us that Alcyoneus lived on the isthmus of Thrace and that he had stolen his cattle from Helios , causing the Gigantomachy, (Schol. Pindar Isthmian 6.47) and that Alcyoneus, one of

476-429: A Mycenaean market, or Mycenaean overlords of Crete. While Minoan figures, whether human or animal, have a great sense of life and movement, they are often not very accurate, and the species is sometimes impossible to identify; by comparison with Ancient Egyptian art they are often more vivid, but less naturalistic. In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures, though

595-684: A banal naturalism in contrast to Judeo-Christian spiritual art. The central figure of Laocoön served as loose inspiration for the Indian in Horatio Greenough 's The Rescue (1837–1850), which stood before the east façade of the United States Capitol for over 100 years. Near the end of Charles Dickens ' 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol , Ebenezer Scrooge self-describes "making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings" in his hurry to dress on Christmas morning. John Ruskin disliked

714-518: A counter movement of the Rococo, the impetus being a sense of disgust directed towards the latter's florid qualities. Alcyoneus In Greek mythology , Alcyoneus or Alkyoneus ( / æ l ˈ s aɪ . ə ˌ nj uː s / ; Ancient Greek : Ἀλκυονεύς , romanized :  Alkyoneús ) was a traditional opponent of the hero Heracles . He was usually considered to be one of the Gigantes ( Giants ),

833-521: A long period perhaps covering the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and early Neolithic. Prehistoric Celtic art comes from much of Iron Age Europe and survives mainly in the form of high-status metalwork skillfully decorated with complex, elegant and mostly abstract designs, often using curving and spiral forms. There are human heads and some fully represented animals, but full-length human figures at any size are so rare that their absence may represent

952-512: A more compact, three-dimensional pyramidal grouping of the three figures had been used or at least contemplated. According to Seymour Howard, both the Vatican group and the Sperlonga sculptures "show a similar taste for open and flexible pictorial organization that called for pyrotechnic piercing and lent itself to changes at the site, and in new situations". The more open, planographic composition along

1071-773: A more elaborate and dramatic re-adaptation of late Renaissance art. By the 18th century, however, Baroque art was falling out of fashion as many deemed it too melodramatic and also gloomy, and it developed into the Rococo , which emerged in France. Rococo art was even more elaborate than the Baroque, but it was less serious and more playful. Whilst the Baroque used rich, strong colours, Rococo used pale, creamier shades. The artistic movement no longer placed an emphasis on politics and religion, focusing instead on lighter themes such as romance, celebration, and appreciation of nature. Rococo art also contrasted

1190-556: A much more precise location for the find: slightly to the east of the southern end of the Sette Sale , the ruined cistern for the successive imperial baths at the base of the hill by the Colosseum. The first document records De Fredis' purchase of a vineyard of about 1.5 hectares from a convent for 135 ducats on 14 November 1504, exactly 14 months before the finding of the statue. The second document, from 1527, makes it clear that there

1309-450: A plane, used in the restoration of the Laocoön group, has been interpreted as "apparently the result of serial reworkings by Roman Imperial as well as Renaissance and modern craftsmen". A different reconstruction was proposed by Seymour Howard, to give "a more cohesive, baroque-looking and diagonally-set pyramidal composition", by turning the older son as much as 90°, with his back to the side of

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1428-674: A rather larger number of copies of them from the Early Medieval period. Early Christian art grew out of Roman popular, and later Imperial, art and adapted its iconography from these sources. Most surviving art from the Medieval period was religious in focus, often funded by the Church , powerful ecclesiastical individuals such as bishops , communal groups such as abbeys , or wealthy secular patrons . Many had specific liturgical functions—processional crosses and altarpieces , for example. One of

1547-730: A religious taboo. As the Romans conquered Celtic territories, it almost entirely vanishes, but the style continued in limited use in the British Isles , and with the coming of Christianity revived there in the Insular style of the Early Middle Ages. The Minoan civilization of Crete is regarded as the oldest civilization in Europe. Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional workmanship. Sinclair Hood described an "essential quality of

1666-434: A representation of Heracles dragging Alcyoneus out of his homeland. The earliest mentions of Alcyoneus in literature, are by the fifth century BC poet Pindar . According to Pindar, Heracles and Telamon were traveling through Phlegra , where they encountered Alcyoneus, whom Pindar describes as a "herdsman ... huge as a mountain", and a "great and terrible warrior". A battle occurs in which Alcyoneus "laid low, by hurling

1785-461: A rock, twelve chariots and twice twelve horse-taming heroes who were riding in them", before finally being "destroyed" by the two heroes. The participation of Telamon and other mortals in the battle, and the lack of mention of any of the gods, or other Giants, seem to imply that for Pindar, unlike apparently Apollodorus, the battle between Heracles and Alcyoneus was a separate event from the Gigantomachy. And in fact Pindar never actually calls Alcyoneus

1904-518: A section to the younger son's arm, and after 1816 Antonio Canova tidied up the group after their return from Paris, without being convinced by the correctness of the additions but wishing to avoid a controversy. In 1906 Ludwig Pollak , archaeologist, art dealer and director of the Museo Barracco , discovered a fragment of a marble arm in a builder's yard in Rome, close to where the group was found. Noting

2023-484: A self-conscious classical revival, developing into Ottonian art . Anglo-Saxon art is the art of England after the Insular period. Illuminated manuscripts contain nearly all the surviving painting of the period, but architecture, metalwork and small carved work in wood or ivory were also important media. Byzantine art overlaps with or merges with what we call Early Christian art until the iconoclasm period of 730-843 when

2142-522: A sleeping Alcyoneus. His seven daughters are the Alkyonides . Early sources provide glimpses of other versions of the story from the one that Apollodorus tells. Possibly Alcyoneus was not originally a Giant, but simply one of Heracles' many monstrous opponents. Depictions of Heracles fighting Alcyoneus, named by inscription, are found on several sixth century BC pots (e.g., Louvre F208). The earliest extant representation of their battle probably occurs on

2261-461: A stylistic similarity to the Laocoön group he presented it to the Vatican Museums: it remained in their storerooms for half a century. In 1957 the museum decided that this arm – bent, as Michelangelo had suggested – had originally belonged to this Laocoön, and replaced it. According to Paolo Liverani: "Remarkably, despite the lack of a critical section, the join between

2380-436: A winged Hypnos nearby (Melborne 1730.4, Getty 84.AE.974, Munich 1784, Toledo 52.66). These depictions suggest the existence of a story in which Heracles takes advantage of a sleeping opponent. The presence of cattle on several of the pots suggests that the story also involved cattle in some way (e.g., Tarquinia RC 2070, Taranto 7030). This last pot depicts Heracles, with a headlock perhaps dragging his opponent, which might be

2499-402: A work that may be looked upon as preferable to any other production of the art of painting or of [bronze] statuary. It is sculptured from a single block, both the main figure as well as the children, and the serpents with their marvellous folds. This group was made in concert by three most eminent artists, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, natives of Rhodes. It is generally accepted that this

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2618-690: Is a general term for the art of the "barbarian" peoples who moved into formerly Roman territories. Celtic art in the 7th and 8th centuries saw a fusion with Germanic traditions through contact with the Anglo-Saxons creating what is called the Hiberno-Saxon style or Insular art , which was to be highly influential on the rest of the Middle Ages. Merovingian art describes the art of the Franks before about 800, when Carolingian art combined insular influences with

2737-748: Is an example of their architecture that has lasted to modern days. Greek marble sculpture is often described as the highest form of Classical art. Painting on the pottery of Ancient Greece and ceramics gives a particularly informative glimpse into the way society in Ancient Greece functioned. Black-figure vase painting and Red-figure vase painting gives many surviving examples of what Greek painting was. Some famous Greek painters on wooden panels who are mentioned in texts are Apelles , Zeuxis and Parrhasius , however no examples of Ancient Greek panel painting survive, only written descriptions by their contemporaries or by later Romans. Zeuxis lived in 5–6 BC and

2856-703: Is at the Musée du Louvre . There are many copies of the statue, including a well-known one in the Grand Palace of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes . Many still show the arm in the outstretched position, but the copy in Rhodes has been corrected. The group was rapidly depicted in prints as well as small models, and became known all over Europe. Titian appears to have had access to a good cast or reproduction from about 1520, and echoes of

2975-614: Is far from clear; one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom, with remains of a bed, or a shrine. Animals, including an unusual variety of marine fauna, are often depicted; the " Marine Style " is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including octopus spreading all over the vessel, and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes; sometimes these appear in other media. Scenes of hunting and warfare, and horses and riders, are mostly found in later periods, in works perhaps made by Cretans for

3094-403: Is now a house on the property, and clarifies the location; by then De Fredis was dead and his widow rented out the house. The house appears on a map of 1748, and still survives as a substantial building of three storeys, as of 2014 in the courtyard of a convent. The area remained mainly agricultural until the 19th century, but is now entirely built up. It is speculated that De Fredis began building

3213-545: Is seen as Absolutist in nature. Religious and political themes were widely explored within the Baroque artistic context, and both paintings and sculptures were characterised by a strong element of drama, emotion and theatricality. Famous Baroque artists include Caravaggio or Rubens . Artemisia Gentileschi was another noteworthy artist, who was inspired by Caravaggio's style. Baroque art was particularly ornate and elaborate in nature, often using rich, warm colours with dark undertones. Pomp and grandeur were important elements of

3332-415: Is the same work as is now in the Vatican. It is now very often thought that the three Rhodians were copyists, perhaps of a bronze sculpture from Pergamon, created around 200 BC. It is noteworthy that Pliny does not address this issue explicitly, in a way that suggests "he regards it as an original". Pliny states that it was located in the palace of the emperor Titus , and it is possible that it remained in

3451-412: Is thought to have had a religious significance; bull's heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials. There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals, or are clearly royal, and the identities of religious figures is often tentative, with scholars uncertain whether they are deities, clergy or devotees. Equally, whether painted rooms were "shrines" or secular

3570-533: Is uncertain, as it is not known if it is an original work or a copy of an earlier bronze sculpture. Some believe it to be a copy of a work from the early Imperial period, while others think it to be an original work from the later period, continuing the Pergamene style of some two centuries earlier. Regardless, it was probably commissioned for a wealthy Roman's home, possibly from the Imperial family. The dates suggested for

3689-510: The Aeneid quotation at the entry Laocoön ), but this dates from between 29 and 19 BC, which is possibly later than the sculpture. However, some scholars see the group as a depiction of the scene as described by Virgil. In Virgil, Laocoön was a priest of Poseidon who was killed with both his sons after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear. In Sophocles, on

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3808-743: The Belvedere Torso , is evidenced in many of Michelangelo's later sculptures, such as the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave , created for the tomb of Pope Julius II . Several of the ignudi and the figure of Haman in the Sistine Chapel ceiling draw on the figures. Raphael used the face of Laocoön for his Homer in his Parnassus in the Raphael Rooms , expressing blindness rather than pain. The Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli

3927-450: The Dardan priest" was "entirely wanting" in sublimity . Furthermore, he attacked the composition on naturalistic grounds, contrasting the carefully studied human anatomy of the restored figures with the unconvincing portrayal of the snakes: For whatever knowledge of the human frame there may be in the Laocoön, there is certainly none of the habits of serpents. The fixing of the snake's head in

4046-617: The Florence Cathedral . Brunelleschi's dome for the cathedral was one of the first truly revolutionary architectural innovations since the Gothic flying buttress. Donatello created many of its sculptures. Giotto and Lorenzo Ghiberti also contributed to the cathedral. High Renaissance artists include such figures as Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo Buonarroti , and Raffaello Sanzio . The 15th-century artistic developments in Italy (for example,

4165-1074: The Mesolithic in Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced, and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period, despite some works such as the Gundestrup cauldron from the European Iron Age and the Bronze Age Trundholm sun chariot . The oldest European cave art dates back 40,800, and can be found in the El Castillo Cave in Spain. Other cave painting sites include Lascaux , Cave of Altamira , Grotte de Cussac , Pech Merle , Cave of Niaux , Chauvet Cave , Font-de-Gaume , Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire, England, (Cave etchings and bas-reliefs discovered in 2003), Coliboaia cave from Romania (considered

4284-519: The Scrovegni Chapel , Padua , is seen as the beginnings of a Renaissance style . Other painters of the 14th century were carried the Gothic style to great elaboration and detail. Notable among these painters are Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano . In the Netherlands , the technique of painting in oils rather than tempera , led itself to a form of elaboration that was not dependent upon

4403-620: The Vatican Museums . The story of Laocoön, a Trojan priest, came from the Greek Epic Cycle on the Trojan Wars , though it is not mentioned by Homer . It had been the subject of a tragedy, now lost, by Sophocles and was mentioned by other Greek writers, though the events around the attack by the serpents vary considerably. The most famous account of these is now in Virgil 's Aeneid (see

4522-545: The adoption of promising young sculptors). Altogether eight "signatures" (or labels) of an Athenodoros are found on sculptures or bases for them, five of these from Italy. Some, including that from Sperlonga, record his father as Agesander. The whole question remains the subject of academic debate. The group was unearthed in February 1506 in the vineyard of Felice De Fredis; informed of the fact, Pope Julius II , an enthusiastic classicist, sent for his court artists. Michelangelo

4641-462: The humanist spirit of the age, art became more secular in subject matter, depicting ancient mythology in addition to Christian themes. This genre of art is often referred to as Renaissance Classicism . In the North, the most important Renaissance innovation was the widespread use of oil paints , which allowed for greater colour and intensity. During the late 13th century and early 14th century, much of

4760-399: The 30 cm tall Löwenmensch figurine of about 30,000 BCE has hardly any pieces that can be related to it. The Swimming Reindeer of about 11,000 BCE is one of the finest of a number of Magdalenian carvings in bone or antler of animals in the art of the Upper Paleolithic , though they are outnumbered by engraved pieces, which are sometimes classified as sculpture. With the beginning of

4879-526: The Arts for an essay on contemporary culture at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1940 Clement Greenberg adapted the concept for his own essay entitled Towards a Newer Laocoön in which he argued that abstract art now provided an ideal for artists to measure their work against. A 2007 exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute in turn copied this title while exhibiting work by modern artists influenced by

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4998-405: The Baroque artistic movement in general, as can be seen when Louis XIV said, "I am grandeur incarnate"; many Baroque artists served kings who tried to realize this goal. Baroque art in many ways was similar to Renaissance art; as a matter of fact, the term was initially used in a derogative manner to describe post-Renaissance art and architecture which was over-elaborate. Baroque art can be seen as

5117-504: The Baroque as it often refused symmetry in favor of asymmetrical designs. Furthermore, it sought inspiration from the artistic forms and ornamentation of Far Eastern Asia , resulting in the rise in favour of porcelain figurines and chinoiserie in general. The 18th-century style flourished for a short while; nevertheless, the Rococo style soon fell out of favor, being seen by many as a gaudy and superficial movement emphasizing aesthetics over meaning. Neoclassicism in many ways developed as

5236-568: The Baroque nature of Rembrandt's art is clear, the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while also continuing to produce the traditional categories. Baroque art is often seen as part of the Counter-Reformation —the artistic element of the revival of spiritual life in the Roman Catholic Church . Additionally, the emphasis that Baroque art placed on grandeur

5355-589: The Christian church was a major influence on European art, and commissions from the Church provided the major source of work for artists. In the same period there was also a renewed interest in classical mythology, great wars, heroes and heroines, and themes not connected to religion. Most art of the last 200 years has been produced without reference to religion and often with no particular ideology at all, but art has often been influenced by political issues, whether reflecting

5474-536: The European cultural heritage. Prehistoric art history is usually divided into four main periods: Stone Age , Neolithic , Bronze Age , and Iron Age . Most of the remaining artifacts of this period are small sculptures and cave paintings. Much surviving prehistoric art is small portable sculptures, with a small group of female Venus figurines such as the Venus of Willendorf (24,000–22,000 BC) found across central Europe;

5593-562: The Giants, attacked Heracles, not in Thrace but at the Isthmus of Corinth , while the hero was returning with the cattle of Geryon , and that this was according to Zeus' plan because the Giants were his enemies (Schol. Pindar Nemean 4.43). The cattle shown on the sixth century pots, might thus represent either Alcyoneus' cattle stolen from Helios, or Heracles' cattle taken from Geryon. Apollodorus mentions

5712-625: The Hellenistic " Pergamene baroque" which arose in Greek Asia Minor around 200 BC, and whose best known undoubtedly original work is the Pergamon Altar , dated c.  180 –160 BC, and now in Berlin. Here the figure of Alcyoneus is shown in a pose and situation (including serpents) which is very similar to those of Laocoön, though the style is "looser and wilder in its principles" than

5831-645: The Iberian Mediterranean Basin represents a very different style, with the human figure the main focus, often seen in large groups, with battles, dancing and hunting all represented, as well as other activities and details such as clothing. The figures are generally rather sketchily depicted in thin paint, with the relationships between the groups of humans and animals more carefully depicted than individual figures. Other less numerous groups of rock art, many engraved rather than painted, show similar characteristics. The Iberian examples are believed to date from

5950-532: The Vatican, now part of the Vatican Museums, which regard this as the start of their history. As yet it had no base, which was not added until 1511, and from various prints and drawings from the time the older son appears to have been completely detached from the rest of the group. In July 1798 the statue was taken to France in the wake of the French conquest of Italy, though the replacement parts were left in Rome. It

6069-402: The academics of the time considered them hoaxes. Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry of Upper Palaeolithic peoples. Cave paintings, undertaken with only the most rudimentary tools, can also furnish valuable insight into the culture and beliefs of that era. The Rock art of

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6188-400: The altar, and looking towards the frontal viewer rather than at his father. The findings Seymour Howard documented do not change his belief about the organization of the original. But dating the reworked coil ends by measuring the depth of the surface crust and comparing the metal dowels in the original and reworked portions allows one to determine the provenance of the parts and the sequence of

6307-538: The altar. The execution of the Laocoön is extremely fine throughout, and the composition very carefully calculated, even though it appears that the group underwent adjustments in ancient times. The two sons are rather small in scale compared to their father, but this adds to the impact of the central figure. The fine white marble used is often thought to be Greek, but has not been identified by analysis. In Pliny's survey of Greek and Roman stone sculpture in his encyclopedic Natural History (XXXVI, 37), he says: ....in

6426-553: The application of gold leaf and embossing, but upon the minute depiction of the natural world. The art of painting textures with great realism evolved at this time. Dutch painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes were to have great influence on Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting. The ideas of the Renaissance first emerged in the city-state of Florence , Italy . The sculptor Donatello returned to classical techniques such as contrapposto and classical subjects like

6545-471: The appropriation of churches to mosques. Romanesque art refers to the period from about 1000 to the rise of Gothic art in the 12th century. This was a period of increasing prosperity, and the first to see a coherent style used across Europe, from Scandinavia to Sicily. Romanesque art is vigorous and direct, was originally brightly coloured, and is often very sophisticated. Stained glass and enamel on metalwork became important media, and larger sculptures in

6664-670: The art of the Classical period waxed and waned throughout the next two thousand years, seeming to slip into a distant memory in parts of the Medieval period, to re-emerge in the Renaissance , suffer a period of what some early art historians viewed as "decay" during the Baroque period, to reappear in a refined form in Neo-Classicism and to be reborn in Post-Modernism . Before the 1800s,

6783-477: The arts of painting and sculpture have produced" has led to a tradition which debates this claim that the sculpture is the greatest of all artworks. Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) wrote about the paradox of admiring beauty while seeing a scene of death and failure. The most influential contribution to the debate, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 's essay Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry , examines

6902-495: The artworks plundered by the French were returned, and the Laocoön reached Rome in January 1816. When the statue was discovered, Laocoön's right arm was missing, along with part of the hand of one son and the right arm of the other, and various sections of the snake. The older son, on the right, was detached from the other two figures. The age of the altar used as a seat by Laocoön remains uncertain. Artists and connoisseurs debated how

7021-443: The behest of council designed a group...", which Spivey takes to mean that the commission was by Titus, possibly even advised by Pliny among other savants . The same three artists' names, though in a different order (Athenodoros, Agesander , and Polydorus), with the names of their fathers, are inscribed on one of the sculptures at Tiberius's villa at Sperlonga (though they may predate his ownership), but it seems likely that not all

7140-442: The best known Baroque painters are Caravaggio , Rembrandt , Peter Paul Rubens , and Diego Velázquez . A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting , which had very little religious art, and little history painting , instead playing a crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life , genre paintings of everyday scenes, and landscape painting . While

7259-537: The bones of Alcyoneus were considered a "marvel" by the people living near Vesuvius, where it was said that many Giants were buried. The Suda says that Hegesander told of a myth in which Alcyoneus had seven daughters, the Alkyonides , who threw themselves into the sea when Alcyoneus died and were turned into birds, the Halcyons ( kingfishers ). The late fourth century or early fifth century AD Greek poet Nonnus , in his poem Dionysiaca , mentions Alcyoneus as one of

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7378-463: The case of several works of very great excellence, the number of artists that have been engaged upon them has proved a considerable obstacle to the fame of each, no individual being able to engross the whole of the credit, and it being impossible to award it in due proportion to the names of the several artists combined. Such is the case with the Laocoön, for example, in the palace of the Emperor Titus,

7497-452: The central questions about Medieval art concerns its lack of realism. A great deal of knowledge of perspective in art and understanding of the human figure was lost with the fall of Rome . But realism was not the primary concern of Medieval artists. They were simply trying to send a religious message, a task which demands clear iconic images instead of precisely rendered ones. Time Period : 6th century to 15th century Migration period art

7616-601: The city boundary, as building had spread well beyond it. The spot was within the Gardens of Maecenas , founded by Gaius Maecenas the ally of Augustus and patron of the arts. He bequeathed the gardens to Augustus in 8 BC, and Tiberius lived there after he returned to Rome as heir to Augustus in 2 AD. Pliny said the Laocoön was in his time at the palace of Titus ( qui est in Titi imperatoris domo ), then heir to his father Vespasian , but

7735-421: The concerns of patrons or the artist. European art is arranged into a number of stylistic periods, which, historically, overlap each other as different styles flourished in different areas. Broadly the periods are, Classical , Byzantine , Medieval , Gothic , Renaissance , Baroque , Rococo , Neoclassical , Modern , Postmodern and New European Painting . European prehistoric art is an important part of

7854-473: The confusion and anguish associated with the end of the Middle Ages. Albrecht Dürer introduced Italian Renaissance style to Germany at the end of the 15th century, and dominated German Renaissance art. Time Period : In European art, Renaissance Classicism spawned two different movements— Mannerism and the Baroque . Mannerism, a reaction against the idealist perfection of Classicism, employed distortion of light and spatial frameworks in order to emphasize

7973-439: The differences between visual and literary art by comparing the sculpture with Virgil's verse. He argues that the artists could not realistically depict the physical suffering of the victims, as this would be too painful. Instead, they had to express suffering while retaining beauty. Johann Goethe said the following in his essay, Upon the Laocoon "A true work of art, like a work of nature, never ceases to open boundlessly before

8092-466: The emotional content of a painting and the emotions of the painter. The work of El Greco is a particularly clear example of Mannerism in painting during the late 16th, early 17th centuries. Northern Mannerism took longer to develop, and was largely a movement of the last half of the 16th century. Baroque art took the representationalism of the Renaissance to new heights, emphasizing detail, movement, lighting, and drama in their search for beauty. Perhaps

8211-419: The end of the period includes new media such as prints. The Renaissance is characterized by a focus on the arts of Ancient Greece and Rome , which led to many changes in both the technical aspects of painting and sculpture, as well as to their subject matter. It began in Italy , a country rich in Roman heritage as well as material prosperity to fund artists. During the Renaissance, painters began to enhance

8330-439: The figures begin to appear in his works, two of them in the Averoldi Altarpiece of 1520–1522. A woodcut , probably after a drawing by Titian, parodied the sculpture by portraying three apes instead of humans. It has often been interpreted as a satire on the clumsiness of Bandinelli's copy, or as a commentary on debates of the time around the similarities between human and ape anatomy. It has also been suggested that this woodcut

8449-458: The figures can be seen in many of his major works, including his Descent from the Cross in Antwerp Cathedral . The original was seized and taken to Paris by Napoleon Bonaparte after his conquest of Italy in 1799, and installed in a place of honour in the Musée Napoléon at the Louvre . Following the fall of Napoleon, it was returned by the Allies to the Vatican in 1816. Pliny's description of Laocoön as "a work to be preferred to all that

8568-701: The finest Minoan art, the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions". It forms part of the wider grouping of Aegean art , and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over Cycladic art . Wood and textiles have decomposed, so most surviving examples of Minoan art are pottery , intricately-carved Minoan seals , .palace frescos which include landscapes), small sculptures in various materials, jewellery, and metalwork. The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later Ancient Greek art has been much discussed. It clearly dominated Mycenaean art and Cycladic art of

8687-552: The first by Poseidon and Athena, or Apollo, and the deaths were interpreted by the Trojans as proof that the horse was a sacred object. The two versions have rather different morals: Laocoön was either punished for doing wrong, or for being right. The snakes are depicted as both biting and constricting, and are probably intended as venomous, as in Virgil. Pietro Aretino thought so, praising the group in 1537: ...the two serpents, in attacking

8806-528: The first examples of trompe-l'œil , pseudo-perspective, and pure landscape. Almost all of the surviving painted portraits from the Ancient world are a large number of coffin-portraits of bust form found in the Late Antique cemetery of Al-Fayum . They give an idea of the quality that the finest ancient work must have had. A very small number of miniatures from Late Antique illustrated books also survive, and

8925-434: The ground but then began to revive, so on the advice of Athena, Heracles dragged Alcyoneus out of his homeland where Alcyoneus then died. For the poet Pindar , Heracles' battle with Alcyoneus (whom he calls a herdsman), and the Gigantomachy were separate events. In some accounts Alcyoneus caused the Gigantomachy by stealing the cattle of Helios . Vase paintings suggest a version of the story in which Heracles encounters

9044-520: The house soon after his purchase, and as the group was reported to have been found some four metres below ground, at a depth unlikely to be reached by normal vineyard-digging operations, it seems likely that it was discovered when digging the foundations for the house, or possibly a well for it. The findspot was inside and very close to the Servian Wall , which was still maintained in the 1st century AD (possibly converted to an aqueduct ), though no longer

9163-503: The idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted. Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile, and the torso seen frontally; but the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts. Ancient Greece had great painters, great sculptors, and great architects. The Parthenon

9282-717: The interest in perspectival systems, in depicting anatomy, and in classical cultures) matured during the 16th century, accounting for the designations "Early Renaissance" for the 15th century and "High Renaissance" for the 16th century. Although no singular style characterizes the High Renaissance, the art of those most closely associated with this period—Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian—exhibits an astounding mastery, both technical and aesthetic. High Renaissance artists created works of such authority that generations of later artists relied on these artworks for instruction. These exemplary artistic creations further elevated

9401-460: The jaws or the body, if its prey has any power of struggling left, it throws round another coil, without quitting the hold with the jaws; if Laocoön had had to do with real serpents, instead of pieces of tape with heads to them, he would have been held still, and not allowed to throw his arms or legs about. In 1910 the critic Irving Babbitt used the title The New Laokoon: An Essay on the Confusion of

9520-478: The location of Titus's residence remains unknown; the imperial estate of the Gardens of Maecenas may be a plausible candidate. If the Laocoön group was already in the location of the later findspot by the time Pliny saw it, it might have arrived there under Maecenas or any of the emperors. The extent of the grounds of Nero's Domus Aurea is now unclear, but they do not appear to have extended so far north or east, though

9639-416: The mind. We examine, – we are impressed with it, – it produces its effect; but it can never be all comprehended, still less can its essence, its value, be expressed in words. The most unusual intervention in the debate, William Blake 's annotated print Laocoön , surrounds the image with graffiti-like commentary in several languages, written in multiple directions. Blake presents

9758-447: The missing parts should be interpreted. Michelangelo suggested that the missing right arms were originally bent back over the shoulder. Others, however, believed it was more appropriate to show the right arms extended outwards in a heroic gesture. According to Vasari , in about 1510 Bramante , the Pope's architect, held an informal contest among sculptors to make replacement right arms, which

9877-421: The most likely date for the Laocoön group's creation. However the Sperlonga inscription, which also gives the fathers of the artists, makes it clear that at least Agesander is a different individual from the priest of the same name recorded at Lindos, though very possibly related. The names may have recurred across generations, a Rhodian habit, within the context of a family workshop (which might well have included

9996-623: The newly rediscovered findspot-location is not very far beyond them. Art of Europe Art of Central Asia Art of East Asia Art of South Asia Art of Southeast Asia Art of Europe Art of Africa Art of the Americas Art of Oceania The art of Europe , also known as Western art , encompasses the history of visual art in Europe . European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and

10115-562: The offspring of Gaia born from the blood of the castrated Uranus . According to the mythographer Apollodorus , Alcyoneus' confrontation with Heracles was part of the Gigantomachy , the cosmic battle of the Giants with the Olympian gods . In Apollodorus' account Alcyoneus and Porphyrion were the greatest of the Giants, and Alcyoneus was immortal as long as he was in his native land. When Heracles shot Alcyoneus with an arrow, Alcyoneus fell to

10234-558: The oldest cave painting in central Europe ) and Magura, Belogradchik, Bulgaria. Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces, but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One well-known example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland. When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain in 1879,

10353-404: The other hand, he was a priest of Apollo , who should have been celibate but had married. The serpents killed only the two sons, leaving Laocoön himself alive to suffer. In other versions he was killed for having had sex with his wife in the temple of Poseidon, or simply making a sacrifice in the temple with his wife present. In this second group of versions, the snakes were sent by Poseidon and in

10472-493: The painting in Italy was Byzantine in character, notably that of Duccio of Siena and Cimabue of Florence, while Pietro Cavallini in Rome was more Gothic in style. During the 13th century , Italian sculptors began to draw inspiration not only from medieval prototypes, but also from ancient works. In 1290, Giotto began painting in a manner that was less traditional and more based upon observation of nature. His famous cycle at

10591-470: The prestige of artists. Artists could claim divine inspiration, thereby raising visual art to a status formerly given only to poetry. Thus, painters, sculptors, and architects came into their own, successfully claiming for their work a high position among the fine arts. In a sense, 16th- century masters created a new profession with its own rights of expression and its own venerable character. Early Netherlandish painting developed (but did not strictly invent)

10710-450: The realism of their work by using new techniques in perspective , thus representing three dimensions more authentically. Artists also began to use new techniques in the manipulation of light and darkness, such as the tone contrast evident in many of Titian 's portraits and the development of sfumato and chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci . Sculptors , too, began to rediscover many ancient techniques such as contrapposto . Following with

10829-414: The repairs. Other suggestions have been made. The discovery of the Laocoön made a great impression on Italian artists and continued to influence Italian art into the Baroque period. Michelangelo is known to have been particularly impressed by the massive scale of the work and its sensuous Hellenistic aesthetic, particularly its depiction of the male figures. The influence of the Laocoön , as well as

10948-459: The round developed, although high relief was the principal technique. Its architecture is dominated by thick walls, and round-headed windows and arches, with much carved decoration. Gothic art is a variable term depending on the craft, place and time. The term originated with Gothic architecture in 1140, but Gothic painting did not appear until around 1200 (this date has many qualifications), when it diverged from Romanesque style. Gothic sculpture

11067-518: The same periods, even after Crete was occupied by the Mycenaeans, but only some aspects of the tradition survived the Greek Dark Ages after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece . Minoan art has a variety of subject-matter, much of it appearing across different media, although only some styles of pottery include figurative scenes. Bull-leaping appears in painting and several types of sculpture, and

11186-473: The same place until 1506 (see "Findspot" section below). He also asserts that it was carved from a single piece of marble, though the Vatican work comprises at least seven interlocking pieces. The phrase translated above as "in concert" ( de consilii sententia ) is regarded by some as referring to their commission rather than the artists' method of working, giving in Nigel Spivey 's translation: "[the artists] at

11305-552: The sculpture and compared its "disgusting convulsions" unfavourably with work by Michelangelo , whose fresco of The Brazen Serpent, on a corner pendentive of the Sistine Chapel , also involves figures struggling with snakes – the fiery serpents of the Book of Numbers . He invited contrast between the "meagre lines and contemptible tortures of the Laocoon" and the "awfulness and quietness" of Michelangelo, saying "the slaughter of

11424-486: The sculpture as a mediocre copy of a lost Israelite original, describing it as "Jehovah & his two Sons Satan & Adam as they were copied from the Cherubim Of Solomons Temple by three Rhodians & applied to Natural Fact or History of Ilium". This reflects Blake's theory that the imitation of ancient Greek and Roman art was destructive to the creative imagination, and that Classical sculpture represented

11543-547: The sculpture. The location where the buried statue was found in 1506 was always known to be "in the vineyard of Felice De Fredis" on the Oppian Hill (the southern spur of the Esquiline Hill ), as noted in the document recording the sale of the group to the Pope. But over time, knowledge of the site's precise location was lost, beyond "vague" statements such as Sangallo's "near Santa Maria Maggiore" (see above) or it being "near

11662-475: The side of the principal figure is as false to nature, as it is poor in composition of line. A large serpent never wants to bite, it wants to hold, it seizes therefore always where it can hold best, by the extremities, or throat, it seizes once and forever, and that before it coils, following up the seizure with the twist of its body round the victim, as invisibly swift as the twist of a whip lash round any hard object it may strike, and then it holds fast, never moving

11781-655: The site of the Domus Aurea " (the palace of the Emperor Nero ); in modern terms near the Colosseum . An inscribed plaque of 1529 in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli records the burial of De Fredis and his son there, covering his finding of the group but giving no occupation. Research published in 2010 has recovered two documents in the municipal archives (badly indexed, and so missed by earlier researchers), which have established

11900-466: The statue range from 200 BC to the 70s AD, with a Julio-Claudian date (27 BC to 68 AD) now being the preferred option. Despite being in mostly excellent condition for an excavated sculpture, the group is missing several parts and underwent several ancient modifications, as well as restorations since its excavation. The statue is currently on display in the Museo Pio-Clementino , which is part of

12019-540: The struggling bodies, especially Laocoön's, with every part of his body shown straining. Pliny attributed the work, then in the palace of Emperor Titus , to three Greek sculptors from the island of Rhodes : Agesander , Athenodoros , and Polydorus, but he did not mention the date or patron. In style it is considered "one of the finest examples of the Hellenistic baroque" and certainly in the Greek tradition. However, its origin

12138-544: The technique of oil painting to allow greater control in painting minute detail with realism— Jan van Eyck  (1366–1441) was a figure in the movement from illuminated manuscripts to panel paintings . Hieronymus Bosch (1450?–1516), a Dutch painter, is another important figure in the Northern Renaissance . In his paintings, he used religious themes, but combined them with grotesque fantasies, colorful imagery, and peasant folk legends. His paintings often reflect

12257-490: The theft of Helios' cattle as an event of the Gigantomachy, but not the cause of it. Alcyoneus is usually identified as the winged Giant battling Athena on the Gigantomachy frieze from the Pergamon Altar . An unascribed lyric fragment (985 PMG) calls the Giant "Phlegraian Alkyoneus of Pallene, the eldest of the Gigantes [Giants]". Claudian has Alcyoneus buried under the volcanic Mount Vesuvius while Philostratus says that

12376-403: The three figures, produce the most striking semblances of fear, suffering and death. The youth embraced in the coils is fearful; the old man struck by the fangs is in torment; the child who has received the poison, dies. In at least one Greek telling of the story the older son is able to escape, and the composition seems to allow for that possibility. The style of the work is agreed to be that of

12495-405: The three masters were the same individuals. Though broadly similar in style, many aspects of the execution of the two groups are drastically different, with the Laocoon group of much higher quality and finish. Some scholars used to think that honorific inscriptions found at Lindos in Rhodes dated Agesander and Athenodoros, recorded as priests, to a period after 42 BC, making the years 42 to 20 BC

12614-482: The torso and the arm was guaranteed by a drill hole on one piece which aligned perfectly with a corresponding hole on the other." In the 1980s the statue was dismantled and reassembled, again with the Pollak arm incorporated. The restored portions of the sons' arms and hands were removed. In the course of disassembly, it was possible to observe breaks, cuttings, metal tenons, and dowel holes which suggested that in antiquity,

12733-637: The unsupported nude—his second sculpture of David was the first free-standing bronze nude created in Europe since the Roman Empire. The sculptor and architect Brunelleschi studied the architectural ideas of ancient Roman buildings for inspiration. Masaccio perfected elements like composition, individual expression, and human form to paint frescoes, especially those in the Brancacci Chapel , of surprising elegance, drama, and emotion. A remarkable number of these major artists worked on different portions of

12852-487: The vast majority of artwork with figures was destroyed; so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding. After 843 until 1453 there is a clear Byzantine art tradition. It is often the finest art of the Middle Ages in terms of quality of material and workmanship, with production centered on Constantinople. Byzantine art's crowning achievement were the monumental frescos and mosaics inside domed churches, most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and

12971-595: Was also strongly influenced by the more local Etruscan art of Italy. Roman sculpture , is primarily portraiture derived from the upper classes of society as well as depictions of the gods. However, Roman painting does have important unique characteristics. Among surviving Roman paintings are wall paintings, many from villas in Campania , in Southern Italy, especially at Pompeii and Herculaneum . Such painting can be grouped into four main "styles" or periods and may contain

13090-413: Was always to be found at our house, my father having summoned him and having assigned him the commission of the pope's tomb, my father wanted him to come along, too. I joined up with my father and off we went. I climbed down to where the statues were when immediately my father said, "That is the Laocoön, which Pliny mentions". Then they dug the hole wider so that they could pull the statue out. As soon as it

13209-497: Was born in France in 1144 with the renovation of the Abbey Church of S. Denis and spread throughout Europe, by the 13th century it had become the international style, replacing Romanesque. International Gothic describes Gothic art from about 1360 to 1430, after which Gothic art merges into Renaissance art at different times in different places. During this period forms such as painting, in fresco and on panel, become newly important, and

13328-631: Was called to the site of the unearthing of the statue immediately after its discovery, along with the Florentine architect Giuliano da Sangallo and his eleven-year-old son Francesco da Sangallo , later a sculptor, who wrote an account over sixty years later: The first time I was in Rome when I was very young, the pope was told about the discovery of some very beautiful statues in a vineyard near Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope ordered one of his officers to run and tell Giuliano da Sangallo to go and see them. So he set off immediately. Since Michelangelo Buonarroti

13447-671: Was characteristic of the period between the Paleolithic and the Iron Age . Written histories of European art often begin with the Aegean civilizations , dating from the 3rd millennium BC. However a consistent pattern of artistic development within Europe becomes clear only with Ancient Greek art , which was adopted and transformed by Rome and carried; with the Roman Empire , across much of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia . The influence of

13566-521: Was commissioned to make a copy by the Medici Pope Leo X . Bandinelli's version, which was often copied and distributed in small bronzes, is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, the Pope having decided it was too good to send to François I of France as originally intended. A bronze casting, made for François I at Fontainebleau from a mold taken from the original under the supervision of Primaticcio ,

13685-409: Was judged by Raphael , and won by Jacopo Sansovino . The winner, in the outstretched position, was used in copies but not attached to the original group, which remained as it was until 1532, when Giovanni Antonio Montorsoli , a pupil of Michelangelo, added his even more straight version of Laocoön's outstretched arm, which remained in place until modern times. In 1725–1727 Agostino Cornacchini added

13804-605: Was on display when the new Musée Central des Arts, later the Musée Napoléon, opened at the Louvre in November 1800. A competition was announced for new parts to complete the composition, but there were no entries. Some plaster sections by François Girardon , over 150 years old, were used instead. After Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 most (but certainly not all) of

13923-517: Was one of a number of Renaissance images that were made to reflect contemporary doubts as to the authenticity of the Laocoön Group , the 'aping' of the statue referring to the incorrect pose of the Trojan priest who was depicted in ancient art in the traditional sacrificial pose, with his leg raised to subdue the bull. Over 15 drawings of the group made by Rubens in Rome have survived, and the influence of

14042-454: Was said to be the first to use sfumato . According to Pliny the Elder , the realism of his paintings was such that birds tried to eat the painted grapes. Apelles is described as the greatest painter of Antiquity for perfect technique in drawing, brilliant color and modeling. Roman art was influenced by Greece and can in part be taken as a descendant of ancient Greek painting and sculpture, but

14161-458: Was visible everyone started to draw (or "started to have lunch"), all the while discoursing on ancient things, chatting as well about the ones in Florence. Julius acquired the group on March 23, giving De Fredis a job as a scribe as well as the customs revenues from one of the gates of Rome. By August the group was placed for public viewing in a niche in the wall of the brand new Belvedere Garden at

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