Laocoön

Lao�con is an antique marble group (now in the Vatican Museums) representing the Trojan priest Lao�con and his two sons being crushed to death by snakes as penalty for warning the Trojans against the wooden horse of the Greeks, and incident related by Virgil in the Aeneid. It is usually dated to the 2nd or 1st century BC or the 1st century AD, although whether it is an original Hellenistic piece or a Roman copy has long been a matter of dispute.

Bandinelli was commissioned for making a copy of the Laoco�n by Pope Leo X. In his copy the artist made several modifications and additions to the original.