Throughout history, there are many scenes that are repeated in different mediums. Many of these scenes begin as stories. The image of Laocoon was first depicted with words as a story told about the Trojan War. Laocoon is a Trojan priest who had warned against the acceptance of the wooden horse. The gods, who are on the side of the Greeks, send two serpents to kill Laocoon. They first attack his two sons, and when he rushes to save them they attack and kill him (Lee 37). The snakes then return to the citadel of Minerva for safety. A famous depiction of this scene can be found in the illuminated manuscript Vergilius Vaticanus. This illuminated manuscript was done sometime around the 5th century (Wright 91). It was similar to many illuminated manuscripts of the time in that the scribe wrote out the poem, and left designated space for the artist to depict an image that relates to that part of the poem(Wright **). While it is believed that many of the images were copies of images from rolls depicting the same story, the artist did have opportunity to alter images and depict images as they saw fit. The artist that painted the Laocoon scene reveals Laocoon as a strong tragic hero by depicting him the second time as large, nude, muscular and bearded. This view is intensified when compared to the Roman/Hellenistic sculptural group of Laocoon and his sons.
To start, the painting of Laocoon is located on the bottom half of the page, under the poem describing the event (Figure 1). This means that naturally the reader would look upon the poem before regarding the scene, so they would bring their knowledge of the poem to the scene. The scene is painted on vellum (calf skin). The vellum is very fine parchment which indicates that this was a fi...
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Photograph of source by Karen Jacques.
Title: Laocoön (Roman copy)
Date: Roman copy from 1st c. CE after early 2nd c. BCE Pergamene original
Repository: Museo Pio-Clementino (Vatican City)
ARTstor: SCALA_ARCHIVES_10310474654
URL: http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=4iFCeTg4NCciJy8laCt2KngqXXgvfl5%2Beic%3D
Hercules is one of the most well-known mythical heroes in history; his associations with adventure and violence exemplify as to why audiences are so interested in him. Virgil briefly writes about Hercules within The Aeneid, showcasing his heroic qualities within a climactic event with the monster, Cacus. Through the characterization of Hercules and Cacus, demonstrations of Hercules’ anger, and exemplifications of vividness, Virgil’s account of the battle between Hercules and Cacus in Book 8 of The Aeneid exemplifies an element of impact, heightening the conflict between the two characters for entertainment purposes.
All of the figures within the sculpture appear either excessively well built, small, or large. To begin with, the serpents are excessively long. The snake biting the child on the left, for example, starts at the child’s torso, his body then curls around the child’s right shoulder, continues behind the child and moves down to ensnare Laocoön’s’ right leg with the smallest child’s legs and then winds around Laocoön’s left leg and finally has one last coil looped around the largest child’s left ankle. If Laocoön were an average height man (around 6 foot tall) then the sea serpents would have to be at least 12 feet long (probably closer to 15 feet or more). The girth of the serpent bodies is disproportionate with their large size. Although, the bodies of the snakes are large, to achieve a size of twelve feet or more, the body of the snake at the apex would probably be closer to the size of Laocoön’s thigh than the size of his wrist and
I learned about many significant artwork and artist in this class. This class provided me with a better understanding of the history of the world Art, but also helped me understand the development of art style. However, among all of these precious pieces of artwork, there are two special ones that caught my attention: The Chinese Qin Terracotta Warriors and The Haniwa. Each of them represents the artist’s stylistic characteristics and cultural context. Although they represented different art of rulers, historical values, and scenes, there were visible similarities.
Antony Kamm ~ The Romans: An Introduction Second Edition, Published in 2008, pages 47, 93
The bee simile is a prominent figure in Virgil’s Aeneid, appearing first in Book I, and then later in Book VI. The careful arrangement and placement of the similes in the text implies that Virgil considered them to be highly significant to the understanding of his work. Each allusion to bee imagery in the Aeneid provides insight into what Virgil views as the perfect society - a diligent, patriotic, well-organized, dutiful community of likeminded individuals working towards a singular, noble end. Through his use of the bee similes, Virgil emphasizes the importance of the collective over the individual, the theme of rebirth, and the eventual rise of Rome.
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