representation of the human form at the moment of death there is dignity as well as
pathos.
Parallel to the sculptures of the Pergamum school, in a style that has some-
times been called baroque, is one of the most famous sculptures to survive
antiquity, the Laocoon (fig. 72), thought by Pliny to be a work superior to any
painting or bronze and assigned by him to the Rhodian sculptors, Hagesander,
Polydorus and Athenodorus (Natural History, 36, 37). There has been some debate
about its date, but scholars of art are agreed on the essentially Hellenistic inspiration
of its style. A dramatic struggle is being enacted in three stages. The two sons are
used to intensify the struggle, centred upon Laocoon, by showing its beginning and
its outcome. The elder son, who is slightly detached from the other two figures (for
he has only just been caught in the coils of the snake), sees his fate in the still
struggling father at the centre and in his younger brother, whose limply swooning
body has been virtually overcome. The inevitability of the outcome is finely
suggested by the arrangement of the sequence in reverse order (from left to right),
starting with the final yielding swoon, and also by the inclination of the body of
Laocoon towards his swooning younger son. Anguish is expressed in the different
attitudes of the three figures, and the agonizing toil is communicated through the
contorted muscles and swelling veins of the swirling figure of Laocoon, whose
arm muscles may be said to reflect the intricate coils of the snake and whose
hair and beard are also noticeably snaky.
Although the immediate impression made by this complex structure is one of
cluttered intricacy, it cannot be doubted that there is unity if not simplicity of design.
Classical clarity of design, simple economy of line and restraint of form have been
sacrificed to obtain maximum pathos. For the dramatic emotion that it evokes is the
statue’s whole reason for being and not any preoccupation with ideal beauty or
perfect physical form. Even in battle scenes the classical sculptor preserves the beauty
of bodily forms. The dynamic Lapith (fig. 60) retains a grace in action; the muscles of
the thighs and arms are taut but not contorted, the chest is uplifted slightly but not
twisted. There is a simple beauty in the positioning of the legs, as he is poised for
action. It is as if the scene has been designed to exhibit an athletic aspect of the body’s
beauty. This accounts for its uplifting effect, what has been called the calm grandeur
of high Classicism. The uplifting effect is achieved by artistic restraint and emotional
detachment on the part of the sculptor, who is intent solely on exhibiting his mastery
of the medium and control of form. The artists of the Laocoon, by contrast, have
designs on our emotions, and it is the remarkable emotional intensity of the group
shown in anguished expression and contorted forms that sets it apart from the
serenity and poise of Classical art.
In any period different styles will exist alongside each other and in this period
there were those in sculpture as in literature who already regarded the masterpieces
268 THE GREEKS