Saturday, July 12, 2014

Am I Missing Something?


One thing I learned in Italy is that most sculptures lose their fingers, 
extremities and heads...

If they are lucky they get repaired........... correctly.........

(always look at the neck line to see where they lost their head!)



Some are still headless in The Vatican.... 
remember all those heads on the shelves in the prior post?




This one below...
HE lost his head...
but they attached a woman's head to his body
when they repaired him.

(We had a great guide at The Vatican!!!)


Laocoön and His Sons

Fascinating history of this piece here.

When the statue was discovered, Laocoön's right arm was missing, along with part of the hand of one child and the right arm of the other, and various sections of snake. The older son, on the right, was detached from the other two figures. The age of the altar used as a seat by Laocoön remains uncertain. Artists and connoisseurs debated how the missing parts should be interpreted. Michelangelo suggested that the missing right arms were originally bent back over the shoulder. Others, however, believed it was more appropriate to show the right arms extended outwards in a heroic gesture.

You can read what happened at the link above..... 
but in 1906 an archaeologist found the missing arm.
In the 1980's the original arm was reattached.
Note that it was bent as Michelangelo said it should be



7 comments:

~*~Patty S said...

That last photo sure has alot going in the sculpture...great to have a guide give you THE story for sure!
The guy who lost his head and got a woman's head instead sure dressed like a woman...not toga like...more dress like in my eyes.
You certainly got to see some fabulous things! TFS!
oxo

Jeanie said...

I would certainly hate missing extremeties but I wouldn't mind missing a few inches of the chicken fat covering my hips!

How wonderful to see all this in person -- oh, you must have been in seventh heaven. And thanks for sharing the backstory, too!

Lorrie said...

Fascinating. That Michelangelo knew his stuff.

Unknown said...

WOW! Great post! I looked at some of your other pots too--- fab photos! Almost like being there myself! This trip will give you blog material for months!

Unknown said...

I mean to say POSTS, not pots! lolololol!

Roses, Lace and Brocante said...

My two trips through the Vatican were in the midst of such a huge crowd - I found it hard to take it all in.
You got some great photos - funny about the heads!

~*~Patty S said...

I keep checking here to see if I've missed a new blog post Mz Linda ;-)
Thank you for visiting me and always saying such nice things oxoxo