The Laocoön unearthed in Rome

1506 · Event

Diggers in a Roman vineyard strike a marble group of a priest and his sons strangled by sea serpents — the Laocoön praised by Pliny fourteen centuries earlier. Michelangelo rushes to watch the excavation; the pope buys it within weeks. No single find did more to teach the Renaissance what ancient sculpture could do with agony.

On these timelines: Painting & Sculpture, Renaissance, Arts and Thoughts, Master, Italy (post-476 CE)

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