Recovered in 1506 through excavation in Rome, the ancient Greek sculpture “Laocoon and His Sons” depicts three individuals in agony as they fight off serpents attacking them. It is attributed to the works of the Ancient Greeks sometimes between 200BC and 68 AD. The subject of the matter depicts the fate of Lacoon and his sons thymbraeus and Antiphanters after the gods sent sea serpents to attack them following Lacoon’s warning to the people against taking in the Trojan horse. A masterpiece, the artwork shows the ancient artists’ ability to use marble to create an almost-huma size sculpture. With seven interlocking pieces of white marble, the sculptor was able to apply multiple formal elements including texture, color, form, material, shape, and in-the-round to portray emotions as expressed by agony felt by the subjects as they fight the serpents.
In this artwork, the sculpture must have been a highly-skilled person or group of artists, judging by the ability to use formal elements of a sculpture to capture the kind of agony and pain that the subjects must have felt during the scene. Noteworthy, the object is an all-round sculpture rather than a relief, making it possible to one to view it from all the sides (Barnet 31). The foreground is designed to provide the sculpture a form of endearing outlook, allowing the viewers to derive the sensitive meaning from its baroque nature. In all the three human characters, the face, forehead, legs, shoulders, hips, hands, and legs are twisted in different directions to demonstrate the violent nature of the struggle between man and serpent. This also demonstrates the ability of the sculpture to apply multidirectional formal characteristic of sculptures. In fact, it is a classical style of art in which the creator must have used to depict the unstable emotions and forces with actions. As expected, violence scenes in which characters are fighting or struggling for survival against other forces such as animals always involve movements in different directions. In this case, every part of the body trying hard to flee itself from the attacking force. At the same time, the serpents are struggling to twist themselves around the limbs and bodies of the characters in their quest to kill them. Without the application of directionality, it would have been difficult for the sculptor to express the emotions and the fights involved in the scenario.
One of the most intriguing features of the sculpture is the expression of agony through the use of color, texture, and material. Marble is used as the material for developing the object. In this case, the sculptor had the chance to shape various parts of the characters in different ways (Barnet 29). In particular, the material gives the audience a chance to judge the context and emotions in the scenario. As one can see, the faces depict people in great pain, with wrinkles showing both struggle for survival and anguish. Laocoon, the central and the main figure, has his eyes partly closed and the mouth is open, indicating that he is using as much energy and force from his body as possible to overcome the snakes. In the same way, the son on his left has eyes closed as he tries to flee the serpent that is twisting its round body around his neck and chest.
Color, texture, and shape help the sculptor to create the scenario and depict the emotions that the audience can clearly understand without much struggle or explanation. The sculptor only uses white color on the surface of the object, which helps to attract the attention of the viewer to the bright object and not its surrounding (Barnet 33). As the legend is told, the Laocoon and his sons thymbraeus and Antiphanters were attacked by the snakes the night the Trojan horse was brought into the city and after sending warning to the citizens. Therefore, the audience can understand that only the bodies of the subjects and the animals are visible at night. Moreover, the three people are naked as demonstrated by their light and white bodies, which is used to indicate further than it was indeed during their night sleep. Meanwhile, the sculptor was able to apply texture to depict the scenario and the experiences of the characters. Both the men and the serpents have smooth bodies as they are all naked. While the snakes naturally have smooth, openly naked bodies, men tend to cover themselves with costumes. However, in this scenario, Laocoon and his sons are naked, exposing their soft uncovered bodies. The idea is to further demonstrate that the scenario must have taken place at night when the snakes attached the men in their sleep. It also indicates that the scene and the actions are not voluntary but reactions to attack by forces seeking to end their lives.
The use of shape further improves the overall quality and genuineness of the scene. The objects around the human bodies are rounded and twisted, giving the audience an easy time to recognize that they are snakes. In addition, they are long, which indicates that the serpents were large and strong for the innocent and unexpecting men. Although the heads and tails of the serpents cannot be seen, it is clear that they are alive and using their body energies to subdue the men. This can be judged by their round and shapes.
The sculpture’s scale to that of real individuals in such a scenario would be almost equal. The men depicted in the object are almost the height of real people, which indicates the sculptor’s consideration of scale to convince the audience about the actual happening at one point in time (Barnet 39). Laocoon is the largest of all and is placed at the center, making him the subject matter. His height and size are almost equal to that of a real person. At the same time, he has larger size and height than the two sons on his either side, indicating that the boys must have been teenagers at the time of the attacks. In addition, it is an indication that the son’s greatly depended on their father for protection against the serpents as they were still young. Furthermore, the artist used scale to portray the difference between the characters and the snakes. Similar to a real situation, the men are larger than the snakes in size and width, even though the serpents appear exaggerated.
All these formal elements of the sculpture must have been used to demonstrate the scenario in which man struggles to fight forces that try to kill him. The process must have been agonizing and overwhelming to the three men as they tried to fight the serpents. The color, shape, texture, and directionality have been used to indicate the struggle and energy that the men are trying to apply to overcome the snakes. On their part, the snakes are depicted as round and elongated and twisted around the body of the men, indicating their quest to accomplish the killing mission.
Work Cited
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Art. Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.