Laocoön

A snake coils across three bodies. Follow it from the father in the centre towards his two sons, and the struggle spreads across the whole group. The figures differ in size, but each is caught in the same attack. Their bent limbs and turned bodies give you several actions to follow at once. The father is Laocoön, a priest in the story of Troy. He warned the Trojans about the wooden horse left by the Greeks. The serpents belong to the ancient account of his death and that of his sons. The sculpture gives that story a bodily form, with each figure reacting to the same danger. Workers found the group on Rome's Esquiline Hill in 1506. Pope Julius II bought it immediately for his statue courtyard. Its discovery helped shape the collection you are visiting. Scholars debate its date, with around 40–30 BC a proposed dating. The courtyard brings this ancient account of suffering into a setting assembled by a Renaissance pope.