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hard Philp Gallery
Italian
Sculpture of a bust after Laocoon Group
c. 1740
Marble
Height: 85 cm
Mounted on a waisted variegated marble plinth, inscribed to front 'LAOCOON'
The likeness of the bust with the face of the Laocoon in the Vatican Museum is striking. It was common in the 18th century to rework ancient fragments of sculpted groups into busts. However, 17th and 18th century copies of antiques were even more common. Although the temptation is great to imagine this bust to be a reworked fragment of another Roman version of the Laocoon group now in the Vatican Museum, it is unlikely. This bust is a magnificent copy, and the questions that arise from its observation make it all the more worthy of interest.
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