Vatican Museum

The statue of Laocoön and his Sons, also called the Laocoön Group, is a monumental marble sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. The statue is attributed by the Roman author Pliny the Elder to three sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. It shows Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being strangled by sea serpents. The Aeneid describe this as Poseidon's wrath for Laocoön's attempt to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse. Various dates have been suggested for the statue, ranging from about 160 BC to about 20 BC. Inscriptions found at Lindos in Rhodes date Agesander and Athenedoros to a period after 42 BC, making the years 42 BC to 20 BC the most likely date for the Laocoön statue's creation. The statue, which was probably originally commissioned for the home of a wealthy Roman, was unearthed in 1506 near the site of the Golden House of the Emperor Nero (who reigned from 54 to 68 AD), and it is possible that the statue belonged to Nero himself. It was acquired by Pope Julius II, an enthusiastic classicist, soon after its discovery and was placed in the Belvedere Garden at the Vatican, now part of the Vatican Museums. The discovery of the Laocoön made a great impression on Italian sculptors and significantly influenced the course of Italian Renaissance art. The sculptor Michelangelo is known to have been particularly impressed by the massive scale of the work and its sensuous Hellenistic aesthetic of the statue, particularly its depiction of the male figures. The influence of the Laocoön is evidenced in Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina: cartoons for this work show that he used several variants of the poses in the Laocoön group. Many of Michelangelo's later works, such as the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave, were also influenced by the Laocoön. The tragic nobility of this statue is one of the themes in Gotthold Lessing's essay on literature and aesthetics, Laokoön, one of the early classics of art criticism. When the statue was discovered, Laocoön's right arm was missing. Artists and connoisseurs debated how the missing parts should be interpreted. Michelangelo suggested that the right arm was originally bent back over Laocoön's shoulder. Others, however, believed it was more appropriate to show the right arm extended outwards in a heroic gesture. The Pope held an informal contest among sculptors to make a replacement right arm, which was judged by Raphael. The winner, in an outstretched position, was attached to the statue. In 1957, however, the original right arm was found in a builder's yard in Rome, and was in the position which had been suggested by Michelangelo. The arm has now been rejoined to the statue. There are many copies of the statue, including a well-known one in the Grand Palace of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes, which still show the arm in the outstretched position. The Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli was commissioned to make a copy by Pope Leo X de' Medici. Bandinelli's version, which was often copied and distributed in small bronzes, is at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The original was seized and taken to Paris by Napoléon Bonaparte after his conquest of Italy in 1799, and installed in a place of honour in the Musée Napoléon at the Louvre, where it was one of the inspirations of neoclassicism in French art. Following the fall of Napoléon, it was returned by the British to the Vatican in 1816. The Laocoön group inspired an 1826 engraving by William Blake, his last before his death the following year. Blake, who had an idiosyncratic belief that all art originated in the Bible and that the classical civilisations were incapable of producing original works of art, claimed the sculpture was a Greek copy of an original in the Temple of Solomon depicting God the Father with Satan and Adam. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%c3%b6n_and_his_Sons

The statue of Laocoön and his Sons, also called the Laocoön Group, is a monumental marble sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. The statue is attributed by the Roman author Pliny the Elder to three sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. It shows Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being strangled by sea serpents. The Aeneid describe this as Poseidon's wrath for Laocoön's attempt to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse. Various dates have been suggested for the statue, ranging from about 160 BC to about 20 BC. Inscriptions found at Lindos in Rhodes date Agesander and Athenedoros to a period after 42 BC, making the years 42 BC to 20 BC the most likely date for the Laocoön statue's creation. The statue, which was probably originally commissioned for the home of a wealthy Roman, was unearthed in 1506 near the site of the Golden House of the Emperor Nero (who reigned from 54 to 68 AD), and it is possible that the statue belonged to Nero himself. It was acquired by Pope Julius II, an enthusiastic classicist, soon after its discovery and was placed in the Belvedere Garden at the Vatican, now part of the Vatican Museums. The discovery of the Laocoön made a great impression on Italian sculptors and significantly influenced the course of Italian Renaissance art. The sculptor Michelangelo is known to have been particularly impressed by the massive scale of the work and its sensuous Hellenistic aesthetic of the statue, particularly its depiction of the male figures. The influence of the Laocoön is evidenced in Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina: cartoons for this work show that he used several variants of the poses in the Laocoön group. Many of Michelangelo's later works, such as the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave, were also influenced by the Laocoön. The tragic nobility of this statue is one of the themes in Gotthold Lessing's essay on literature and aesthetics, Laokoön, one of the early classics of art criticism. When the statue was discovered, Laocoön's right arm was missing. Artists and connoisseurs debated how the missing parts should be interpreted. Michelangelo suggested that the right arm was originally bent back over Laocoön's shoulder. Others, however, believed it was more appropriate to show the right arm extended outwards in a heroic gesture. The Pope held an informal contest among sculptors to make a replacement right arm, which was judged by Raphael. The winner, in an outstretched position, was attached to the statue. In 1957, however, the original right arm was found in a builder's yard in Rome, and was in the position which had been suggested by Michelangelo. The arm has now been rejoined to the statue. There are many copies of the statue, including a well-known one in the Grand Palace of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes, which still show the arm in the outstretched position. The Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli was commissioned to make a copy by Pope Leo X de' Medici. Bandinelli's version, which was often copied and distributed in small bronzes, is at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The original was seized and taken to Paris by Napoléon Bonaparte after his conquest of Italy in 1799, and installed in a place of honour in the Musée Napoléon at the Louvre, where it was one of the inspirations of neoclassicism in French art. Following the fall of Napoléon, it was returned by the British to the Vatican in 1816. The Laocoön group inspired an 1826 engraving by William Blake, his last before his death the following year. Blake, who had an idiosyncratic belief that all art originated in the Bible and that the classical civilisations were incapable of producing original works of art, claimed the sculpture was a Greek copy of an original in the Temple of Solomon depicting God the Father with Satan and Adam. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%c3%b6n_and_his_Sons

Antonio Canova (November 1, 1757 - October 13, 1822) was a Venetian sculptor who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh. The epitome of the neoclassical sculptor, his work marked a return to classical refinement after the theatrical excesses of Baroque art. Among Canova's heroic compositions, his Perseus with the Head of Medusa appeared soon after his return from Germany. The moment of representation is when the hero, flushed with conquest, displays the head of the "snaky Gorgon," whilst the right hand grasps a sword of singular device. By a public decree, this fine work was placed in one of the stanze of the Vatican hitherto reserved for the most precious works of antiquity. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Canova

The Apollo Belvedere is a marble sculpture that was rediscovered in the late 15th century; for centuries it epitomized the ideals of Classical Antiquity for Europeans, from the Renaissance through the 19th century. In the 1530s it was engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi, whose printed image transmitted the famous pose throughout Europe. Before his engraving existed, the Mantuan sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, called "L'Antico", had made a careful wax model of it, which he cast in bronze, finely finished and partly gilded, to figure in the Gonzaga collection, and in further copies in a handful of others. Albrecht Dürer reversed the Apollo's pose for his Adam in a 1504 engraving of Adam and Eve, suggesting that he saw it in Rome. When L'Antico and Dürer saw it, the Apollo was probably still in the personal collection of Giuliano della Rovere, who, once he was pope as Julius II, transferred the prize in 1511 to the small sculpture court of the Belvedere, the palazzetto or summerhouse that was linked to the Vatican Palace by Bramante's large Cortile del Belvedere. It became the Apollo of the Cortile del Belvedere and the name has remained with it, though the sculpture has long been indoors, in the Museo Pio-Clementino at the Vatican Museums, Rome. The marble is a Hellenistic or Roman copy of a bronze original by the Greek sculptor Leochares, made between 350—325 BC. For centuries it was treasured as the most celebrated work of Greek sculpture. The neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova adopted the fluent Apollo Belvedere for his marble Perseus (Metropolitan Museum). Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Belvedere

The Apollo Belvedere is a marble sculpture that was rediscovered in the late 15th century; for centuries it epitomized the ideals of Classical Antiquity for Europeans, from the Renaissance through the 19th century. In the 1530s it was engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi, whose printed image transmitted the famous pose throughout Europe. Before his engraving existed, the Mantuan sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, called "L'Antico", had made a careful wax model of it, which he cast in bronze, finely finished and partly gilded, to figure in the Gonzaga collection, and in further copies in a handful of others. Albrecht Dürer reversed the Apollo's pose for his Adam in a 1504 engraving of Adam and Eve, suggesting that he saw it in Rome. When L'Antico and Dürer saw it, the Apollo was probably still in the personal collection of Giuliano della Rovere, who, once he was pope as Julius II, transferred the prize in 1511 to the small sculpture court of the Belvedere, the palazzetto or summerhouse that was linked to the Vatican Palace by Bramante's large Cortile del Belvedere. It became the Apollo of the Cortile del Belvedere and the name has remained with it, though the sculpture has long been indoors, in the Museo Pio-Clementino at the Vatican Museums, Rome. The marble is a Hellenistic or Roman copy of a bronze original by the Greek sculptor Leochares, made between 350—325 BC. For centuries it was treasured as the most celebrated work of Greek sculpture. The neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova adopted the fluent Apollo Belvedere for his marble Perseus (Metropolitan Museum). Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Belvedere

The Column of Antoninus Pius is an honorific column in Rome, devoted in 161 to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, in the Campus Martius, on the edge of the hill now known as Monte Citorio, and set up by his successors, the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Construction The column itself was 14.75 metres high and 1.90m in diameter and was constructed of red granite, with no decorating reliefs as on the otherwise similar columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. It was quarried out in 106 (as shown by the masons' inscription on its lower end, IG xiv.2421.1). Architecturally it belonged to the Ustrinum (q.v.), 25 metres north of it on the same orientation, with the main apotheosis scene facing in that direction, and was surmounted by a statue of Antoninus, as is represented on coins issued after his death (Cohen, Ant. Pius 353‑6). Rediscovery Previous to the 18th century the base was completely buried, but the lower part of the shaft projected about 6m above the ground. In 1703, when some buildings were demolished in the area of Montecitorio, the rest of the column and the base were discovered and excavated. The column was raised from the ground by Carlo Fontana's son Francesco (1668-1708), but no decision was made about its use. It, thus, remained lying on the ground under some sheds, and was finally damaged by fire in 1759. Unsuccessful attempts were made to repair it soon afterwards in 1764, with some pieces from it being used in 1789 to restore the obelisk of Augustus that is now in the Piazza di Monte Citorio. Meanwhile the base (of white Italian marble) was restored in 1706-08 and erected in the centre of Piazza di Montecitorio by Ferdinando Fuga in 1741, before being taken to the Vatican Museums in 1787, where it has been in the Michelangelo niche in the Giardino della Pigna from 1885 to the present. Base iconography One side of the base has a dedicatory inscription (CIL vi.1004), two sides record the funerary decursio or decursus (a ceremony performed by the Roman cavalry), and one side shows the apotheosis or ascent to the gods of the emperor and his wife . Decursio On these two almost identical sides, members of the cavalry circle the standing figures, two carrying military standards and the rest fully armored. Lacking a sense of space and perspective, these scenes are often criticized for their lack of stylistic sophistication. Instead of naturalism, both a bird's eye view of the circular manoeuvre and a ground-level view of each figure are provided. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column_of_Antoninus_Pius

The Column of Antoninus Pius is an honorific column in Rome, devoted in 161 to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, in the Campus Martius, on the edge of the hill now known as Monte Citorio, and set up by his successors, the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Construction The column itself was 14.75 metres high and 1.90m in diameter and was constructed of red granite, with no decorating reliefs as on the otherwise similar columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. It was quarried out in 106 (as shown by the masons' inscription on its lower end, IG xiv.2421.1). Architecturally it belonged to the Ustrinum (q.v.), 25 metres north of it on the same orientation, with the main apotheosis scene facing in that direction, and was surmounted by a statue of Antoninus, as is represented on coins issued after his death (Cohen, Ant. Pius 353‑6). Rediscovery Previous to the 18th century the base was completely buried, but the lower part of the shaft projected about 6m above the ground. In 1703, when some buildings were demolished in the area of Montecitorio, the rest of the column and the base were discovered and excavated. The column was raised from the ground by Carlo Fontana's son Francesco (1668-1708), but no decision was made about its use. It, thus, remained lying on the ground under some sheds, and was finally damaged by fire in 1759. Unsuccessful attempts were made to repair it soon afterwards in 1764, with some pieces from it being used in 1789 to restore the obelisk of Augustus that is now in the Piazza di Monte Citorio. Meanwhile the base (of white Italian marble) was restored in 1706-08 and erected in the centre of Piazza di Montecitorio by Ferdinando Fuga in 1741, before being taken to the Vatican Museums in 1787, where it has been in the Michelangelo niche in the Giardino della Pigna from 1885 to the present. Base iconography One side of the base has a dedicatory inscription (CIL vi.1004), two sides record the funerary decursio or decursus (a ceremony performed by the Roman cavalry), and one side shows the apotheosis or ascent to the gods of the emperor and his wife . Apotheosis scene A winged genius (or sometimes identified as Aion, Eternity) carries Antoninus and his wife Faustina to Heaven. The Emperor holds a sceptre crowned with an eagle, whilst eagles also surround them. The personified male figure (left) holding the obelisk represents the Campus Martius. Augustus had placed this obelisk there as a sundial and it was the site of the ritual of the imperial deification. The personified female figure in armour (right) saluting the emperor and empress represents Roma, and her shield depicts the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, suckled by a wolf. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column_of_Antoninus_Pius

This couple was taking their wedding pictures inside the Vatican Museums. They were nice enough to let me take their picture as well.

Joseph Bertini and Caesar Ponti; 1922; Stained glass; the Vatican Library (a gift to Pope Pius XI)