Laocoön

1540/45

Nicolò Boldrini (Italian, c. 1500–1566)
after Titian (Italian, c. 1488-1576)

Niccolò Boldrini’s parody of the Hellenistic Laöcoon sculpture, rediscovered in 1506, turns the writhing tragic figures into a trio of hirsute apes. Boldrini frequently worked from drawings by Titian. This particularly comedic composition suggests that the painter was lampooning the smaller-scale copies based on the Laöcoon that Titian could have seen in Venice. Alternately, the print could reference the contemporary debate over the anatomical similarities between humans and apes, in which Andreas Vesalius’s new research (based on his dissection of human cadavers) clashed with the long-accepted writings of the ancient Greek physician Galen.

Status: On View, Gallery 205
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Nicolò Boldrini
Title: Laocoön
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1535–1550
Medium: Woodcut printed in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: Image/block: 27.3 × 40.7 cm (10 3/4 × 16 1/16 in.); Sheet: 27.8 × 40.7 cm (11 × 16 1/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dr. Harold Joachim
Reference Number: 1964.370
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/20729/manifest.json

Passavant VI.243.97

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.