Posted on 04/19/2005 12:08:30 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Let me be the first to ask: Who cares?
The sculpture is fake but accurate.
I don't care very much, because it's a pretty bad work of sculpture. However, I also think it's genuine. Look at the feet of the three figures. They all show a wide separation between big toe and second toe. That's typical of Antique sculpture, because people wore sandals with a thong between the toes, which shaped the gap, and the sculptors copied the feature they saw in real life.
Me either, but not because of its esthetic qualities, or the lack thereof.
I just cannot get worked up about a debate of whether an "antique" sculpture is a fake done in the 1500's. Even if it is a "fake", isn't it still an antique?
What are they gonna do: dig up Michaelangelo and sue him?
Come on. Don't the academics have anything better to do?
Memories ... I guess I will just have to go back to Rome to see te new Pope and the sites again ;)
Believe it or not....:)
I am stunned. I had just changed my tag line in the last couple of weeks, the one I have used since I started this ride in Freeper land ... but I guess this is a ... ahem ... warning to me.
Funny ...... not one single word about the motive behind why Laocoon and his sons were killed.
Well, after all this time, I thought my tag line was useless, and so I had changed it. And then, you thoughtfully posted this gem ....
What on earth possesed you to post this article (and thanks for the 'warning'! - tag line is back to its orginal!)
So, who cares? I care. Mostly because there is something perfectly accurate about what the story of this Priest says about the human mind and heart. I care also for this reason: I had to be years in corp america, long after college before someone recommended to me the book the "march of folly" by Tuchman. It was there I read about Laocoon. Tuchman, a standard secularist, rationalist, liberal, makes a good review of what 'folly' is through history. But I had never heard of this character in school. And after reading that book, a flaw, a bona fide flaw in the American Character I care about revealing at every chance I get.
This scene depicts the death of Laocoon and his sons. Laocoon was a Trojan priest of Apollo but was praying to Poseidon at the time of his demise. He was the one who coined the phrase "I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts."
Laocoon came into the light at the end of the Trojan War when there was a disagreement about what to do with the wooden horse. The priest bravely attempted to remind the Trojans about the cunning Greeks and how they wouldn't be the type of people to give up. He even threw a spear into the horse which gave a hollow sound.
Poor Laocoon met his demise when he was praying to Poseidon and two snakes (ironically sent by Poseidon) from the island of Tenedos (again ironically where the Greek ships were hidden) came and squeezed him and his two sons to death.
from: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/Ribeiro/laocoon.htm
Laocoon failed to get the attention of the Trojans. He really tried, (some say he even threw a spear at that wooden horse) but he and his two sons paid with their lives for their efforts. The Greeks of course won this particular fight. But, it doesn't always have to turn out this way.
Why did I pick a messenger that was ignored, a messenger whose warnings did nothing to stave off the destruction of Troy? Why pick him - he got himself killed along w/ his sons? Because, although publik skhools taught me about Helen of Troy, they didn't say a word about Laocoon. They should have, for there is a bigger lesson than the fact that a pretty woman can make men behave irrationally. That lesson is that people seem WIRED to ignore warnings ... and destroy the warner.
Despite that reality, warnings sometimes do indeed help; even though its really uncomfortable, some folks do actually listen and a few even heed. I sort of felt sympathy for the Trojans, in the same way I feel sympathy for us here in the USA. Still, too many of us are just too comfortable to listen. But after 9-11, times are changing I think.
From "gobucks" freeper home page.
Well, I care. So do a lot of other people who are interested in history, art, and the development of our Western culture. It's worthwhile to know what Michelangelo achieved.
What are they gonna do: dig up Michaelangelo and sue him?
That's not the point. The point is to better understand the life and work of one of the greatest artists our species has ever produced.
Come on. Don't the academics have anything better to do?
No. That's what academics do. And studying art, expanding our knowledge of art and its history, is not a bad thing to do with one's life. I think that what this scholar has done is valuable.
I think what this "scholar" has done is shameless self-promotion and whose hypothesis will never be proven to everyones satisfaction.
ping
By that logic no academic could ever publish a new idea.
Since you say you do not care, why are you reading such a thread, posting about it, and arguing the concept?
Good point. Good day. :)
NO!
Liz, you already posted this on the other thread, but we may as well exercise our new art ping list.
Anyone who wants on or off the art ping list, let me know.
Also, I am trying to form a freeper art gallery thread, on which artistic freepers can exhibit and discuss their artwork. Please let me know if you'd like to be on that ping list or would like to exhibit.
Thanks.
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