iDC Rome: 500 Years of the Laocoon

Once the Laocoon had been purchased by Julius II and taken to the Vatican's Belvedere Courtyard, numerous attempts to restore the work were undertaken, for both Laocoon and his younger son were missing arms.

By the end of the sixteenth century, artists had settled on a composition in which both figures had outstretched arms, and this version of the Laocoon remained the standard one until, in 1906, Ludiwg Pollack discovered the sculpture's original right arm in the studio of a contemporary Roman sculptor.

In the 1950s, Filippo Magi disassembled the Laocoon - its pieces had been put together after its discovery in the Renaissance - and he reassembled them, adding the right arm discovered by Pollack, and changing somewhat the position of the serpents and of the eldest son.


The Restoration of the Laocoon



			The Laocoon after the found right arm was placed on the statue in the 1950s
	The Laocoon as restored in the Renaissance


		Once the Laocoon had been purchased by Julius II and taken to the Vatican's Belvedere Courtyard, numerous attempts to restore the work were undertaken, for both Laocoon and his younger son were missing arms. By the end of the sixteenth century, artists had settled on a composition in which both figures had outstretched arms, and this version of the Laocoon remained the standard one until, in 1906, Ludiwg Pollack discovered the sculpture's original right arm in the studio of a contemporary Roman sculptor. In the 1950s, Filippo Magi disassembled the Laocoon - its pieces had been put together after its discovery in the Renaissance - and he reassembled them, adding the right arm discovered by Pollack, and changing somewhat the position of the serpents and of the eldest son.