{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O127072"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127072/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1509/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1509/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU1509","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1510","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O127072/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O127072","accessionNumber":"A.12-1966","objectType":"Group","titles":[{"title":"Laocoon and his sons","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Laocoon was the Trojan priest who warned the citizens of Troy against bringing the Greeks' wooden horse into the city. He and his two sons were then strangled by two giant snakes which swam ashore, while Laocoon was officiating at the altar of Neptune. This terracotta appeared in the sale of Nollekens's studio effects held on 4 July, 1823. Nollekens freely adapted the famous Hellenistic marble group in the Vatican for this terracotta study, which may be identical to a sketch he exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1805.\r\n\r\nJoseph Nollekens (1737-1823) was a prolific sculptor of portrait busts and operated a thriving workshop in London. He spent eight years in Rome from 1762 to 1770, where he worked with Bartolomeo Cavaceppi restoring and copying antique marbles. One of these copies, his group of <i>Castor and Pollux</i>, is in the Museum's collection (Museum no. A.59-1940). He probably perfected his modelling of clay while he was in Rome and started to experiment in making small figures or groups. These occasionally became models for large-scale finished marbles, but many, still in his studio at his death, were simply studies in their own right, which he called <i>pensieri</i> (thoughts).","physicalDescription":"Sketch-model in terracotta. The naked Laocoon stands with bowed shoulders between his two sons, his right foot advanced. He places his right hand on the shoulder of the boy on his right. With his raised left hand he grasps one of the two serpents which are attacking them. The second boy, seated on the ground, clings to his father's left leg. The three figures are bound together within the coils of the serpents.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Nollekens, Joseph","id":"A8699"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"terracotta","id":"AAT10669"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Terracotta","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2008BU1509","2008BU1510"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"22","id":"THES49843"},"free":"","case":"CA002","shelf":"003","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Model","id":"AAT247279"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1803-1805","earliest":"1798-01-01","latest":"1807-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Miss Zoë Gordon Smith","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Sold on the second day of Christie's sale of Nollekens's studio effects, held from 3 to 5 July by Mr. Christie, in 1823, lot 35. Purchased by Mrs Palmer. Sold again at the Mrs Russell sale on 19 March 1847, lot 397. Purchased by Mr Peter Norton Esq., Soho Square, London, for £1 13s. Sold at the sale of Peter Norton's collection held at Christie 19 January 1869, lot 1096. Purchased by Benjamin for £1 12s.\r\nPurchased under the Bequest of Dr W.L Hildburgh in 1966 for £250 from Miss Dorothy Hartley, Froncysylltau, Llangollen, Denbighshire.","historicalContext":"The ascription to Nollekens is based on the resemblance of A.12-1966 to terracotta sketch models known to be by his hand, A.6,7,8,9 and 10-1944 and A.21-1955. The case is strengthened by the existence of related drawings by Nollekens of the Laocoon theme in the Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. \r\n\r\nNollekens exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1805 '694. A Sketch of Laocoon and his Sons'. As he used the term 'sketch' for sketch model and as his drawings were scarcley exhibitable, it can be inferred that No. 694 was in fact a terracotta model. \r\n\r\nIn the posthumous sale of his collection, among 'PENSIERI IN TERRACOTTA BY MR. NOLLEKENS', is '35 A Group of Laocoon- treated differently from the antique.'","briefDescription":"Group, sketch-model, terracotta, Laocoon and his sons, by Joseph Nollekens, England, 1803-5","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Graves, A. <u>Royal Academy Exhibitors V.</u> London, 1906, p. 382."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>A Catalogue of the whole of the highly valuable collection of Antique and Modern Sculpture of the late Joseph Nollekens, Esq, R.A, Dec.... which will be sold by auction by Mr Christie, on Friday, July the 4th, 1823.</u>"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Esdaile, K.A, 'A group of Terracotta Models by Joseph Nollekens R.A.,' in <u>The Burlington Magazine</u>, LXXXV, September 1944, p. 220."},{"reference":{"text":"Whinney, Margaret, English Sculpture 1720-1830. London: H. M. Stationery Off., 1971","id":"AUTH401360"},"details":"p. 124.","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kenworthy Browne, J. 'Terracotta models by Joseph Nollekens, R.A', <u>The Sculpture Journal</u> vol. II, pp. 72-84, ill. p. 84"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>L'esprit créateur de Pigalle à Canova. Terres cuites Européeries 1740-1840>/u>, (Exh. Cat.) Musée du Louvre, Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2003-4, p. 23, fig. 9."},{"reference":{"text":"Bilbey, Diane and Trusted, Marjorie, British Sculpture 1470-2000: A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 2002","id":"AUTH401363"},"details":"pp. 106. cat. no. 145.","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Haskell, Francis and Penny, Nicholas.<i>Taste and the antique : the lure of classical sculpture, 1500-1900</i>, New Haven : Yale University Press, 1981","id":"AUTH358030"},"details":"no.54","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Laocoon","id":"N356"},{"text":"Antiphantes","id":"N12768"},{"text":"Thymbraeus","id":"N12769"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"1. Joseph Nollekens 1737–1823\r\nLaocoön and his Sons\r\nAbout 1803–05\r\n\r\nFor this terracotta study Nollekens freely adapted a classical marble in the Vatican. Laocoön was a Trojan priest who warned the citizens of Troy against bringing the Greeks’ wooden horse into the city. As a punishment, the gods ordered that he and his two sons should be strangled by two giant snakes.\r\n\r\nLondon\r\nTerracotta\r\nMuseum no. A.12-1966\r\nGiven by Miss Zoë Gordon Smith\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["A.12-1966"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1966,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LW7183"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-08-05","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-14","availableToBook":false}}