Rome was jubilant when the antique sculpture Laocoön was unearthed in 1506. Now in the Vatican Museums, the work redefined pathos. It depicts the powerfully muscled Trojan priest Laocoön (lay-ah´-ko-on) and his adolescent sons trapped by two deadly serpents worthy of filmmaker George Lucas. Apparently working from a written description, Hans Brosamer arrived at a less distressing, less majestic interpretation. The abrading between Laocoön’s legs may be the work of a censor who objected to nudity in pagan prints.
