[nickcarraway]

The sculpture "Laocoön," at the Vatican Museums, was unearthed in 1506, but a new theory says it is a forgery by Michelangelo.

Lynn Catterson, the Columbia art historian who has suggested that the sculpture "Laocoön" is a forgery perpetrated by Michelangelo.

[clee1]

Let me be the first to ask: Who cares?

[PzGr43]

The whole "xyz is a forgery" is usually to win publicity for obscure post-grads (usually Americans) and boost their publishability.

It is a tough job to ascribe dates to sculptures or other blocks of stone so it's all guesswork.

The fact is, the 'art' industry has done a nice sideline in forgery for as long as it has existed - you name it - sculpture, paintings, furniture, documents. There is simply too much money involved for any of them to retain their integrity. Sometimes a famous work is 'outed', like the Portland Vase or the Turin Shroud, but with the rest you just never know.

So the answer is 100% "mebbe, mebbe not"

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The sculpture is fake but accurate.

[Deetes]

Memories ... I guess I will just have to go back to Rome to see te new Pope and the sites again ;)

[gobucks]

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!)

[SunkenCiv]

"Americans never walked on the Moon" ping. Good lord. Michelangelo sketched the work in order to learn more about sculpting.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!

But what was Michelangelo's motive? How did he gain by having it attributed to the ancients? Is the contention that he was in cahoots with the finder and the value of a "Greek" Laocoön would have been far greater than a contemporary? The resulting value would have made it worth the risk and effort?

[CobaltBlue]

The Laocoön does strikingly resemble Michaelangelo's known works. It's certainly possible.

[x]

Now that they've brought it up, it does look a little too busy to be classical Greek.

They'd get more of a hearing if they alleged that works that had been credited to Michelangelo were actually by Praxiteles or some other ancient Greek sculptor, though.

[fish hawk]

Sculpture original = 6 million dollars

Sculpture forged by Michaelangelo = 30 million dollars

[Dustbunny]

but a new theory says it is a forgery

Yea right, it is her 'theory' and it gets her name in the news.

[night reader]

Really dumb question: How did Michelangelo make money off the alleged forgery? Was he the purported discoverer? Was he commissioned for some sort of restoration, transport, and reassembly? Was he commissioned to authenticate? I fail to see how he could profit from buying the marble, spending time and effort to sculpt the work, hauling it off to a field, burying it, and allowing some farmer to "discover" it.

[Age of Reason]

Carving that thing would have been a major effort for Michelangelo, and to what end? How would he have profited?

Anyway, it doesn’t look like his work.