Laocoön (fig leaf)

3D Model

This fig leaf was removed, in 2019, from the plaster cast of Laocoön and His Sons at Crawford Art Gallery, Cork.

Also made in plaster, this modesty covering was likely added to the group’s central figure of Laocoön in the nineteenth century, following its arrival in Cork as part of a larger gift of 219 so-called Canova Casts. Created under the supervision of Antonio Canova, these had been commissioned for The Prince Regent (later King George IV) by Pope Pius VII in c.1816. They were presented to Cork in November 1818.

In early 1506, the marble Laocoön and His Sons was rediscovered in Rome and remained in the Vatican collection from then until July 1798 when it was removed to Paris. It was returned in January 1816, the same year Crawford Art Gallery’s cast - which preserves incorrect restorations, including Laocoön’s right arm - was made.

As with other fig leaves removed in 2019, this one has been retained as an archival object associated with the cast of Laocoön.