Picking a favorite work of art is extremely difficult. My life is led in many cases by art.

My emotions are set ablaze by art. My mind is calmed and focused by art. So, from one of many,
I choose Laocon and His Sons.
This sculpture solidifies the mastery of the ancients for me. It evokes both emotion and
wonder. It speaks of dread and of life engaged and lived. It exudes horror and love, and tells a
tragic tale of warning. And in absence of its context, it may be a warning of anything, for anyone.
The dating of the work is difficult, though scholars seem to agree that the style is from
the Hellenistic "Pergamene baroque", which arose in Greek Asia Minor around 200 BC. It was
excavated in 1506 near the Sette Sale, or the Seven Halls, a complex of cisterns near the Oppian
Hill, one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. Pliny, one of the last authors in antiquity to witness
the Laocon and His Sons before 1506, stated that in his time the statue was located at the
Palace of Titus, the Roman Emporer. He also states that it is the work of not one but three Greek
sculptors from Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus.
It is a priceless work of art; the original is housed at the Vatican, and is on display in the
Museo Pio-Clementino. It was added to the collection by Pope Julius II, who was a classicist
himself. Upon its discovery, Giuliano da Sangallo, his son Francesco da Sangallo, and
Michelangelo Buonarroti, all master artists in their own right, were summoned to witness its
unearthing. In 1510, Donato Bramante, architect for the Pope, held a contest to see which
sculptor might me able (and worthy) of restoring the right arms of two of the figures. This
contest was judged by the master italian painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, or
Rafael. The winner of this competition was Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino, painter and architect
who designed and built the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. The other limbs wer restored by an
assistant and pupil of Michelangelo, Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli.
The Laocon and His Sons has inspired numerous debates on the qualities and nature of
art. In 1910 the art critic Irving Babbitt wrote an essay on contemporary culture entitled The New
Laokon: An Essay on the Confusion of the Arts.In 1940 Clement Greenberg used the concept
for his own essay entitled, Towards a Newer Laokon, which argues that abstract art provides an
ideal for artists to measure their work against. Upon observing the Laocon and His Sons, one
will surely obseve the why of such a legacy and continued inspiration.
I am One who struggles in vain.
I am One who lives the desperation of a hopeless father.
I am One who cries voiceless and eternal.
I am One who has lived, only to die.
I am One who hopes for that which may follow.
I am One who seeks solace from loss.
I am One who may yet save those whom I love.
I am One who holds death in my hands.
I am One who looks to the Gods.
And,
I am One who will give all if I must.