"Laocoon", also known as "The Laocoon and his Sons", is a group of marble sculptures created by the sculptor agesandros and his sons polydoros and athanodoros of Rhode Island in ancient Greece in the middle of the first century BC. The group sculpture is about 184cm high and is now collected in the Vatican Museum in Vatican City.
The content of this sculpture is based on the story of the battle of Troy in Greek mythology. Because Laocoon warned Trojans not to drag the wooden horse into Troy, he was bitten to death by a giant snake sent by the Greek patron saint. The tragic conflict between people and gods conveyed by this group of images makes it full of eternal value beyond time and space.

The sculpture is a marble work, which depicts Laocoon and his two sons being entangled to death by a giant snake. The content of this sculpture is based on the story of the Trojan War in Greek mythology. Laocoon warned his compatriots in the Trojan War that it is dangerous to move the wooden horse left by the Greeks into the city. Therefore, Athena, the Greek patron saint, sent two pythons to Laocoon and strangled the priest and his two sons. The sculpture shows this shocking scene: the serpent strangles Laocoon and his sons with its deadly entanglement. One snake grasps the young son's chest, and the other snake wraps around his father's thigh. Laocoon's head was leaning back, his lips were slightly open, and his face was deformed due to pain. The eldest son, who was also surrounded by snakes, looked at his father in despair.

Drawing on creative materials
Laokon is based on the legend of "Trojan Horse Plan" in Greek mythology. The Greeks attacked Troy for ten years, but never succeeded. Later, they built a big wooden horse and pretended to retreat, but the Greek soldiers hid in the horse's belly. The Trojans thought that the Greeks had left, so they moved the Trojan Horse into the city as a gift to Athena. Laocoon, the priest of Troy, saw through the Trojan horse plan of the Greek coalition to attack the city, and warned Trojans not to drag the Trojan horse with elite soldiers into the city. Laocoon was angry and threw his spear at the Trojan horse, which angered Athena, who secretly helped Greece. So Athena sent two giant snakes to entangle Laokon's two sons, Antiphanes and Thymbraeus. Laokon was also killed by snakes to save his son. When the Trojans saw Laokon's death, they thought it was Laokon's original warning that angered the gods, so the Trojans took the horse into the city more confidently, so they pulled the horse into the city, leading to a disastrous outcome. The sculptor expressed the tragic scene through sculpture.

In this work, Laocoon is in the middle, with an expression of extreme fear and pain. He tried his best to free himself and the children from the entanglement of the two huge snakes. His hands tightly grasped a snake, but his hips were bitten. His expression was painful, and he seemed to be roaring, his body twisted, and his muscles strongly contracted, all of which seemed futile. [2]
On the left side, Laocoon's eldest son was entangled by a giant snake with his left leg and right arm, which seemed to have the hope of escape and survival. He was not injured yet, but was shocked by the scene in front of him and was struggling to free his leg and right arm from the snake's entanglement.
The second son on the right side was tightly entangled by the snake. He raised his right arm hopelessly, unable to move, but his left hand still grasped the snake's body.
Laocoon and his two sons are represented as three bodies distorted by pain. The movement of all their muscles has reached the limit, even to the point of convulsion, showing their strength and extreme tension in the state of pain and resistance. Looking at this group of statues, people seem to be able to feel pain flowing through the nerves of the whole body, and then unconsciously become nervous. [3]
modelling
In terms of the modeling of the works, the accurate grasp of the anatomical relationship of the human body, the vivid portrayal of the dynamic expression, and the degree of relaxation of the image organization. The sculptors carefully arranged them into a pyramid shape, making the whole group of works stable and full of changes. The movements, gestures and expressions of Laocoon and his two sons echo each other in a clear hierarchy, which fully reflects the coordination of distortion and beauty and shows the extraordinary imagination of the sculptor.
The sculptors have carefully arranged the composition of their works. The works are pyramid shaped, stable and full of changes. The movements, gestures and expressions of the three characters echo each other with clear layers, which fully reflects the coordination of distortion and beauty, and shows the artists' extraordinary imagination of composition at that time. The characters in the works are very lifelike, showing the sculptors' mastery of human anatomy and accurate observation of nature, as well as their skillful artistic expression and sculpture skills. [3]
style
Laocoon did not struggle extremely, but just showed his tough and stern. His face was distorted by pain, but he did not shout loudly. He did not wear clothes, and the python did not entangle his whole body. In order to show the highest beauty under the given physical pain, sculptors have to dilute the physical pain, and convey their inner inhibition, magnanimity and no regrets through their posture and expression. This kind of treatment avoids the generation of uncomfortable feelings such as terror and overstaffing, and makes the whole statue have a calm, solemn and dignified style.

Michelangelo, Italian sculptor: It's incredible. [1]
Goethe, a German poet: No matter for himself or for others, human suffering has three kinds of feelings, namely fear, terror and sympathy. It is not easy for sculpture to express one of these three emotions, while Laocoon contains them at the same time. What a great achievement! Its highly tragic arouses people's imagination, and it is a model of symmetry and change, static and dynamic, contrast and level. [3]
In the 17th century, the ancient art history by the Prussian archaeologist Wenkelman: muscle movement has reached its limit. They are closely connected like hills, showing their strength and extreme tension in a state of pain and resistance

German classical aesthetician Gothold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) wrote an aesthetic paper entitled Laocoon based on this sculpture. In this paper, the group images of Laocoon are studied in detail, and the aesthetic relationship between painting and poetry is discussed, which is one of the important works in the history of European aesthetics. [4]
Spanish painter El Greco also made a painting of the same name on this subject. [3]
R. E.M band mentioned Laocoon and his two sons in the song "Laughing" in the album "Murmur".
The comic "Adventures of Asterix" also imitated the posture of Laocoon statue.

The group portrait of Laocoon was created by three great sculptors, Hagesandros, Polydoros and Atanodoros, on Rhode Island in Greece around 50 BC, and was first placed on Rhode Island in Greece. Later, it was lost due to the war until January 4, 1506, when it was unearthed near the site of Titus Bathing Ground in Rome. When this group of sculptures was found, Laocoon's right arm had been lost, and one of the two children lost his palm and the other lost his right arm. After being unearthed, it was acquired by Pope Julius II and collected in the Palais Polvedo of the Vatican, and later in the Vatican Art Museum in Rome.

Many artists have made copies of this statue, among which Baccio Bandinelli's works are very famous. Some replicas with missing arms can be seen in the Uffizi Art Museum in Florence, the Odessa Archaeological Museum in Ukraine, the Winter Palace in Russia and other places.