What is the first impression this sculpture brings us? What kind of story is told behind it? What does the creator want to express? With these questions, let's slowly approach laocoon and his son.
Who's laocoon?
I believe everyone has heard the stories of "Trojan Horse" and "Trojan Horse". The Trojan Horse Massacre is a part of the Trojan War recorded by Homer, an ancient Greek poet, in his long epics Iliad and Odyssey. But you may not know what role laocoon played in the Trojan Horse Plan. Laocoon is a priest in this famous city of Troy.
It is said that in the early 12th century BC, the Greek city-states joined forces to explore Troy. Trojans stubbornly resisted, and Troy was impregnable and indestructible. The Greeks stormed Troy for nine years, but Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, followed Odysseus' advice and decided to use the Trojan Horse Plan.
The Greeks built a huge wooden horse full of heavily armed soldiers. They spread rumors to the whole city and offered the Trojan horse to the goddess Athena for atonement. Then the Greeks outside Troy boarded the ship, set sail and left the coast, pretending to retreat, leaving only the pre-arranged wooden horse.
The Trojans thought that the enemy had abandoned the siege plan, so they opened the city gate to celebrate the victory and prepared to drag the Trojan horse into the city as a trophy. At that moment, laocoon, the priest of Troy, shouted:
This sentence later came from a common saying: "Beware of Greeks with gifts".
Laocoon tried to warn the Trojans not to fall into the trap of the Greek Trojan horse, and suggested burning the Trojan horse. While the Trojans were hesitating, suddenly two giant snakes appeared on the sea. The serpent went straight to laocoon and his two sons, wrapped around their bodies and attacked them, no matter how laocoon and his sons struggled. Finally, two giant snakes strangled the father and son alive.
The Trojans thought that laocoon's remarks angered Athena, and they suffered this bad luck, so they safely took the Trojan horse into the city to celebrate the victory. In the middle of the night, the armed soldiers hidden in Trojan horse's belly were released by Greek undercover Musinon. They set fire to the whole city and slaughtered Trojans. Troy was finally captured and the Greeks won a great victory.
This is the story of laocoon and Mumaji. This marble sculpture "laocoon" depicts the terrible scene of Trojan priest laocoon and his two sons (Antilles and Timms) being entangled in a python and dying.
This sculpture gives the viewer an intuitive impression of pain. The long bodies of two giant pythons are wrapped around the limbs of laocoon and his son. Laocoon held his right hand high and closed, and his left hand grabbed the body of a python, which was opening its jaws and biting laocoon's waist. Laocoon seems to have a presentiment that the struggle is futile. His face turned up, his expression was painful and desperate, and his mouth was slightly open, as if he were lamenting the unpredictability of fate.
On the right, laocoon's eldest son looked at his father in horror and tried to get rid of the python. The youngest son on the left has been unable to resist and is dying.
When people watch laocoon, they are all shocked by its tragic plot and characterization.
The characters in laocoon are lifelike, and the composition is skillful and complete. Three people and two snakes form a changeable dynamic whole. Goethe, a great German writer, thinks that laocoon stimulates people's imagination with a high degree of tragedy, and at the same time, it is:
According to Pliny the Elder, the creator of laocoon was three sculptors from the Greek island of Rhode: Aki Sandrus, Athena and Polido Ruth. Pliny Sr's evaluation of laocoon is "beyond all previous paintings and sculptures". Laocoon's group sculptures had a great influence on Italian Renaissance art forms and sculptors.
Laocoon was originally placed in the palace of the Roman emperor Titus Flaviu Weiss Paasia Yunus (9 years165438+1October1July-23, 79). It is considered as one of the most outstanding sculptures in the Hellenistic period, and perhaps the most famous ancient Greek sculpture except Venus in the Louvre.
1506 65438+1October 14 A farmer named Felice de' Fredis dug a vineyard in Esquelin Mountain and found a hidden room underground, which contained laocoon and his sons. This is one of the most famous sculptures in history.
When Pope Julius II heard about this discovery, he sent Michelangelo and giuliano da Sangalo to dig it. The Pope is a fanatic of Greek art. He ordered the newly excavated sculpture to be immediately transported to the Vatican and placed in Licheng Garden.
When this striking sculpture was just unearthed 500 years ago, it was received by artists. Michelangelo was deeply shocked and admired by it and regarded it as a model of Greek classical art.
When Fred found the statue, laocoon was missing his right arm, the eldest son's right hand and the youngest son's right arm, and several pieces of snake.
In about 15 10, Pope Julius II decided to repair these missing parts and handed over the project to the Vatican architect Donato Bramante.
Bramante held a competition to see who could come up with the best plan to repair the arm. Michelangelo thought that laocoon's right arm should be bent backward, as if to tear a poisonous snake off his back. Such body language will make him look more miserable. He even carved a rough curved arm to show the Pope.
Raphael is the judge of this competition. He prefers to use the posture of stretching his right arm upward, as if the priest were praying for the gods to stop attacking him and his children. Finally, Raphael made a judgment and agreed that the statue should restore its straight right arm.
1906 A dramatic scene happened. The Austrian archaeologist Ludwig Pollack found the right arm of a marble sculpture in the underground of a building in Rome. Pollack thinks this may be laocoon's lost arm. He donated it to the Vatican Museum, where it was preserved for 565,438+0 years. 1957, experts in the museum confirmed that this arm belongs to laocoon. Therefore, the statue was reassembled, the duplicated right arm was removed, and a new arm was installed. This proves that Michelangelo's judgment is indeed correct.
Since the discovery of 1506, laocoon has quickly become one of the most concerned and admired ancient artworks in history. There have been many famous replicas of laocoon in the past dynasties, including a completely restored replica created by Italian sculptor Baggio Bandinelli (1493- 1560) in the Renaissance. This replica was originally a gift from King Francois I of France.
Pope Clement VII liked this replica so much that he didn't want it to leave Italy, so he gave other antiques to Francois I. Pope Clemente VII was the famous Julio de Medici of Renaissance medici family. This copy of laocoon was later sent to the Medici Palace in Florence and is now in the Uffizi Art Museum in Florence.
The replica of laocoon bronze made by Italian sculptor Francesco Primatio (1504- 1570) is now in the French Fontainebleau Palace (ch? Fontainebleau Manor.
Other replicas can be seen in St. John's Palace and Odessa Archaeological Museum in Rhode Island.
Because of its enduring reputation, 1799, Napoleon moved laocoon from the Vatican to Paris as a model of neoclassical art 18 16 After Napoleon's defeat in Waterloo, laocoon returned to the Vatican.
For hundreds of years, this sculpture has caused many debates among artists. Laocoon's painful expression is as thought-provoking as Mona Lisa's charming smile. The focus of the question and debate is: In the face of great fear and pain, why does laocoon in the statue not wail loudly, but "sigh slightly"?
Focusing on this sculpture, German aesthetician Lessing wrote the famous works laocoon and On the Boundary between Painting and Poetry, and discussed the aesthetic relationship between painting and poetry. Lessing thinks that laocoon's facial expression doesn't show intense pain as people think, which shows that only by downplaying the pain of the body can the sculptor show the highest beauty under the pain of the body, and strive to turn the ugliness of the twisted body into beauty and show "quiet brilliance".
Lessing's evaluation of laocoon is:
The depiction of laocoon's face reflects Lessing's views expressed in the book:
Is laocoon really in pain? Is it just pain? Beneath his painful appearance, is there happiness hidden in laocoon's heart?
Laocoon, the priest of Troy, dared to tell the truth and truly expressed his inner thoughts. Isn't this a kind of happiness? Only by not treating pain as a kind of pain, and consciously and voluntarily bearing pain, can pain be transformed into happiness, which requires inner strength and openness. Laocoon's expression should not only show sadness and wailing, but also show inner peace and calm. Of course, there is love, love for the city and people.
Understanding the story behind the sculpture works, enjoying the shock brought by art and feeling the beauty and strength of art are the eternal charm of art. After thousands of years of historical precipitation, laocoon and his son can still bring great shock and influence to modern people.
After all, art is the creation of human beings, which embodies the creator's personality and humanity. Therefore, artistic charm is the emotion and humanity expressed by artists in various ways and techniques, and it is the source of artistic charm. ...