Upon the discovery of the Laocoon in 1506, Pope Julius II
dispatched the artist Giuliano da Sangallo to examine the newly recovered
sculpture. Sangallo took Michelangelo with him, as well as his young son
Francesco da Sangallo.
In a letter written decades after the
rediscovery of the sculpture, Francesco recounted the events he witnessed on the
excavation site:
The first time I was in Rome when I was
very young, the pope was told about the discovery of some very beautiful statues
in a vineyard near Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope ordered one of his
officers to run and tell Giuliano da Sangallo to go and see them. He set
off immediately. Since Michelangelo Buonarroti was always to be found at
our house, my father having summoned him and having assigned him with the
commission of the pope's tomb, my father wanted him to come along, too. I
joined up with my father and off we went. I climbed down to where the
statues were when immediately my father said, "That is the Laocoon, which Pliny mentions." Then
they dug the hole wider so that they could pull the statue out. As soon as
it was visible everyone started to draw, all the while discoursing on ancient
things, chatting as well about the ones in Florence.
