Laocoön

Details

Date

2019

Author / Artist

Dimensions

134cm wide by 60cm deep by 220cm high

Material

Bronze

Catalogue number

SHPT.18

Current location

North Hall

After the Antique, Laocoön, recast from the historic Stowe Laocoön, contemporary bronze, on a porphyry effect plinth.
A replica, commissioned from Rupert Harris Conservation studio and foundry, of the early 19th century version that stood in North Hall, purchased by the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos from the infamous Fonthill Abbey sale in 1823. The work was subsequently sold in the Stowe sale of 1848: “…the truly grand bronze, by Carbonneaux, of the celebrated group of the Laocoön, the size of the original antique, from its merits and size, attracting great competition. It is one of the finest bronzes in the kingdom. On last Monday’s sale it was put up at 150 guineas, and
the biddings quickly reached to 400… after much excitement, Mr. Hume secured it at the sum of 540 guineas. It is believed to be purchased for the Duke of Hamilton.” (Illustrated London News). The bronze version was based on the original, marble statue that was believed to have stood in the Palace of Titus, attributed by Pliny the Elder, to the Rhodian sculptors Agesander, Athenodoros, and Polydorus. It was famously re-discovered in January 1506 buried, in the grounds of a vineyard in Rome and put on public display at the Vatican, where it remains.
The statue depicts Laocoön, a priest of Troy, with his two sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, being crushed to death by sea serpents sent by the gods, after Laocoön attempts to expose the ruse of the Trojan horse by striking it with a spear, claiming, “I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts”.