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Laocoon

Chapter 93: INDEX.
By Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
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About This Book

This essay examines the distinctive capacities and limits of visual and literary arts, arguing that painting and sculpture imitate bodies and forms presented simultaneously in space while poetry imitates actions and processes unfolding in time. The author analyzes classical examples, notably a famous sculptural group depicting a suffering figure entwined by serpents, to illustrate how medium-specific laws determine appropriate expression. The text critiques modern critics who conflate artistic modes, surveys ancient aesthetic principles, and offers practical guidelines about description, allegory, and the proper relation between subject matter and the expressive means of each art.

INDEX.

  • Achilles, sceptre of, 98;
    • shield of, 113.
  • Action, culminating point of an, not the point to be represented by the artist, 16.
  • Albani, Cardinal Alexander, his discovery of a vase which illustrated the date of the Laocoon, 178 et seq.
  • Anacreon, two odes of, 133, 139.
  • Apelles, his picture of Diana, 143.
  • Ariosto, his description of Alcina, 128, 138.
  • Aristophanes, element of disgust used by, 161.
  • Aristotle, advice of, to Protogenes, 76;
    • his reason why we receive pleasure from a faithful copy of the disagreeable, 154.
  • Art should express nothing essentially transitory, 17.
  • Arts among the ancients, subject to the control of law, 10.
  • Bacchus, how represented in poetry and painting, 56 et seq.
  • Beauty, the supreme law of the imitative arts, 11;
    • subordinated in modern art to other ends, 16;
    • representations of physical, the province of painting, not of poetry, 126.
  • Boivin, his explanations of Homer, 118, 121.
  • Calaber, Quintus, his rendering of the story of Laocoon, 34;
    • his account of the death of Thersites, 150.
  • Callimachus, his picture of famine, 165.
  • Caricature, law against, among the Thebans, 9.
  • Caylus, Count, some points in his work considered, 71, 77, 80, 82, 86, 87, 93;
    • his sketch for a picture of Helen, 140.
  • Chateaubrun, his representation of Philoctetes, 25.
  • Cicero, his views in regard to bodily pain, 28.
  • Cleyn, Francis, illustrations by, 39.
  • Constancy, how represented in art, 68 et seq.
  • Dacier, Madame, her translation of Homer, 113.
  • Dante, his description of the starvation of Ugolino, 166.
  • Deformity, physical, in art, produces disgust, 159.
  • Disgust produced more through the other senses than through that of sight, 160;
    • object of, in painting, 167.
  • Disgusting, the, its use in expressing the horror of famine, 164.
  • Dolce, his dialogue on Painting, 131.
  • Drama, expression of suffering in the, 21 et seq.
  • Dryden, his Ode on Cecilia’s Day, 89.
  • Flaccus, Valerius, his description of an angry Venus, 57 et seq.
  • French language, not adapted to translation of Homer, 112.
  • German language, compared to the Greek, 113.
  • Gladiator, Borghese, the author’s theory in regard to the, 184 et seq.
  • Gladiatorial shows, effect of, 29.
  • Haller, Von, description quoted from his “Alps,” 103.
  • Hercules, as represented by Sophocles, 6;
    • the, of Sophocles, 31.
  • Hogarth, his criticism of the Apollo Belvidere, 145.
  • Homer, expressions of pain in his heroes, 4;
    • representation of his heroes, 79 et seq.;
    • his descriptions not generally available for pictures, 83, 143;
    • his picture of Pandarus, 89;
    • style of, 93;
    • his description of the chariot of Juno, 94;
    • his description of the sceptre of Agamemnon, 95;
    • of the shield of Achilles, 98, 113, 118;
    • of the bow of Pandarus, 99;
    • his indebtedness to the flexibility of the Greek language, 112;
    • his description of the beleaguered city, 121;
    • avoids detailed description, 127;
    • his representation of Helen, 136;
    • his Thersites, 148 et seq.
  • Imitations of the poet by the artist and the reverse, 49 et seq.
  • Invention required less of the artist than of the poet, 72 et seq.
  • Junius, Francis, an unsafe authority, 188.
  • Juno, how represented in ancient art, 57.
  • Kleist, Von, his own judgment of his poem “Spring,” 108.
  • Klotzius, on the effects of different forms of the disagreeable in art, 158.
  • Laocoon, of Virgil, 20 et seq.;
    • compared with the statue, 36 et seq.;
    • contains traits unavailable for the artist, 42;
    • the group of, possibly suggested by Virgil’s description, 43 et seq.;
    • the, probable date of, 170 et seq.
  • Longinus, his remarks in regard to eloquence and poetry, 188.
  • Lucian represents physical beauty by comparison with statues, 135.
  • Manasses, Constantinus, his pictures of Helen, 127.
  • Martiani, his opinion in regard to the date of the Laocoon, 34 et seq.
  • Mazzuoli, his “Rape of the Sabines,” 109.
  • Mengs, his criticism on Raphael’s drapery, 110.
  • Milton furnishes few subjects for a painter, 87.
  • Minerva, how represented in ancient art, 57, 78.
  • Montfaucon, his want of taste, 14;
    • his opinions in regard to the date of the Laocoon, 33 et seq.
  • Olympic judges, law of the, 10.
  • Ovid, his description of Lesbia, 137;
    • his description of the punishment of Marsyas, 163;
    • his picture of famine, 165.
  • Pain, expression of, in Sophocles, 3;
    • in Homer, 4, 5;
    • among Europeans, 4;
    • among the Greeks, 5;
    • in its disfiguring extreme, not compatible with beauty, 13;
    • expression of, among the English, 26.
  • Painting among the Greeks confined to imitation of beauty, 8.
  • Passion, violent, not expressed in ancient art, 12.
  • Pauson, character of his pictures, 9.
  • Phidias, his indebtedness to Homer, 144 et seq.
  • Philoctetes of Sophocles, the, his sufferings compared with those of Laocoon, 3;
    • the, of Pythagoras Leontinus, 14;
    • of Sophocles, the embodiment of physical and mental suffering, 23, 24, 30.
  • Picturesque, the, in poetry, 88.
  • Pisander, possibly Virgil’s predecessor in the history of Laocoon, 34.
  • Pliny, his mention of the Laocoon, 172;
    • of famous Greek sculptors, 173 et seq.
  • Poetry, how it surpasses art in description of physical beauty, 137 et seq.
  • Polygnotus, pictures of, 123 et seq.
  • Pope, contempt of, for descriptive poems, 108;
    • his explanations of Homer, 122 et seq.
  • Pordenone, his picture of the entombment, 167.
  • Pyreicus, character of his pictures, 9.
  • Religion, influence of, on art, 62 et seq.
  • Richardson, remarks of, on Virgil’s Laocoon, 45;
    • his criticism of Pordenone, 167.
  • Ridiculous, the, heightened by an element of disgust, 161.
  • Sadolet, extract from, 46.
  • Shakespeare, his use of ugliness in the character of Richard III., 151.
  • Sophocles, a Laocoon among his lost works, 6;
    • his description of the desert cave of Philoctetes, 163.
  • Spence, Rev. Mr., criticism of his work “Polymetis,” 50;
    • notions of, in regard to the resemblance between painting and poetry, 55, 57.
  • Statius, his description of an angry Venus, 57 et seq.
  • Statues, beautiful, produced beautiful men, 10.
  • Stoicism not adapted to the drama, 6.
  • Stosch, Herr von, his opinion of the Borghese Gladiator, 183.
  • Symbols, use of, in poetry and painting, 67 et seq.
  • Temperance, how represented in art, 68 et seq.
  • Timanthes, picture of Iphigenia by, 12.
  • Timomachus, his representations of Ajax and Medea, 18.
  • Titian, his picture of the Prodigal Son, 109.
  • Ugliness, as used in poetry, 149, 156;
    • as used in painting, 153, 156.
  • Urania, how represented in art, 67.
  • Vesta, how worshipped, 64 et seq.
  • Virgil, description from the Georgics, 106;
    • his description of the shield of Æneas, 114;
    • the Dido of, 133;
    • his introduction of the Harpies, 166.
  • Winkelmann, quoted, 1;
    • soundness of his criticism doubted, 2;
    • his opinion of the Laocoon, 168;
    • his opinion of the Borghese Gladiator, 183;
    • criticism of, 187 et seq.
  • Zeuxis, his picture of Helen, 140 et seq.

1. Von der Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst, p. 21, 22.

2. Brumoy Théât. des Grecs, T. ii. p. 89.

3. Iliad v. 343. Ἡ δὲ μέγα ἰάχουσα.

4. Iliad v. 859.

5. Th. Bartholinus. De Causis contemptæ a Danis adhuc Gentilibus Mortis, cap. 1.

6. Iliad vii. 421.

7. Odyssey iv. 195.

8. Chateaubrun.

9. See Appendix, note 1.

10. See Appendix, note 2.

11. Aristophanes, Plut. v. 602 et Acharnens. v. 854.

12. Plinius, lib. xxx. sect. 37.

13. De Pictura vet. lib. ii. cap. iv. sect. 1.

14. Plinius, lib. xxxiv. sect. 9.

15. See Appendix, note 3.

16. See Appendix, note 4.

17. Plinius, lib. xxxv. sect. 35. Cum mœstos pinxisset omnes, præcipue patruum, et tristitiæ omnem imaginem consumpsisset, patris ipsius vultum velavit, quem digne non poterat ostendere.

18. Valerius Maximus, lib. viii. cap. 2. Summi mœroris acerbitatem arte exprimi non posse confessus est.

19. Antiquit. expl. T. i. p. 50.

20. See Appendix, note 5.

21. Bellorii Admiranda, Tab. 11, 12.

22. Plinius, lib. xxxiv. sect. 19.

23. See Appendix, note 6.

24. Philippus, Anthol. lib. iv. cap. 9, ep. 10.

Ἀιεὶ γὰρ διψᾷς βρέφεων φονον. ἦ τις Ἰήσων
Δεύτερος, ἤ Γλαύκη τις πάλι σoὶ πρόφασις;
Ἐῤῥε καὶ ἐν κηρῷ παιδοκτόνε....

25. Vita Apoll. lib. ii. cap. 22.

26. See Appendix, note 7.

27. Mercure de France, April, 1755, p. 177.

28. “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” by Adam Smith, part i. sect. 2, chap 1. (London, 1761.)

29. Trach. v. 1088, 1089:

ὅστις ὥστε παρθένος
Βέβρυχα κλαίων....

30. Topographiæ Urbis Romæ, lib. iv. cap. 14. Et quanquam hi (Agesander et Polydorus et Athenodorus Rhodii) ex Virgilii descriptione statuam hanc formavisse videntur, &c.

31. Suppl. aux Ant. Expliq. T. i. p. 242. Il semble qu’Agésandre, Polydore, et Athénodore, qui en furent les ouvriers, aient travaillé comme à l’envie, pour laisser un monument qui répondait à l’incomparable description qu’a fait Virgile de Laocoon, &c.

32. See Appendix, note 8.

33. Paralip. lib. xii. v. 398–408.

34. Or rather serpent, for Lycophron mentions but one:

καὶ παιδοβρῶτος πορκέως νήσους διπλᾶς·

35. See Appendix, note 9.

36. See Appendix, note 10.

37.

Their destined way they take,
And to Laocoon and his children make;
And first around the tender boys they wind,
Then with their sharpened fangs their limbs and bodies grind.
The wretched father, running to their aid
With pious haste, but vain, they next invade.—Dryden.

38. See Appendix, note 11.

39. With both his hands he labors at the knots.

40.

Twice round his waist their winding volumes rolled,
And twice about his gasping throat they fold.
The priest thus doubly choked,—their crests divide,
And towering o’er his head in triumph ride.—Dryden.

41. See Appendix, note 12.

42. See Appendix, note 13.

43. His holy fillets the blue venom blots.—Dryden.

44. See Appendix, note 14.

45. See Appendix, note 15.

46. See Appendix, note 16.

47. The first edition was issued in 1747; the second, 1755. Selections by N. Tindal have been printed more than once.

48. Val. Flaccus, lib. vi. v. 55, 56. Polymetis, dial. vi. p. 50.

49. See Appendix, note 17.

50. See Appendix, note 18.

51. See Appendix, note 19.

52. Tibullus, Eleg. 4, lib. iii. Polymetis, dial. viii.

53. Statius, lib. i. Sylv. 5, v. 8. Polymetis, dial. viii.

54. See Appendix, note 20.

55. Æneid, lib. viii. 725. Polymetis, dial. xiv.

56. In various passages of his Travels [Remarks on Italy] and his Dialogues on Ancient Medals.

57. Polymetis, dial. ix.

58. Metamorph. lib. iv. 19, 20. When thou appearest unhorned, thy head is as the head of a virgin.

59. Begeri Thes. Brandenb. vol. iii. p. 242.

60. Polymetis, dial. vi.

61. Polymetis, dial. xx.

62. Polymetis, dial. vii.

63. Argonaut. lib. ii. v. 102–106. “Gracious the goddess is not emulous to appear, nor does she bind her hair with the burnished gold, letting her starry tresses float about her. Wild she is and huge, her cheeks suffused with spots; most like to the Stygian virgins with crackling torch and black mantle.”

64. Thebaid. lib. v. 61–64. “Leaving ancient Paphos and the hundred altars, not like her former self in countenance or the fashion of her hair, she is said to have loosened the nuptial girdle and have sent away her doves. Some report that in the dead of night, bearing other fires and mightier arms, she had hasted with the Tartarean sisters to bed-chambers, and filled the secret places of homes with twining snakes, and all thresholds with cruel fear.”

65. See Appendix, note 21.

66. See Appendix, note 22.

67. See Appendix, note 23.

68. Polymetis, dial. vii.

69. See Appendix, note 24.

70. See Appendix, note 25.

71. Lipsius de Vesta et Vestalibus, cap. 13.

72. Pausanias, Corinth. cap. xxxv. p. 198 (edit. Kuhn).

73. Pausanias, Attic. cap. xviii. p. 41.

74. Polyb. Hist. lib. xvi. sect. 2, Op. T. ii. p. 443 (edit Ernest.).

75. See Appendix, note 26.

76. See Appendix, note 27.

77. Polymetis, dial. viii.

78. Statius, Theb. viii. 551.

79. Polymetis, dial. x.

80. See Appendix, note 28.

81. See Appendix, note 29.