Late last week, vandals beheaded a well-known statue on the grounds of San Francisco’s Legion of Honor museum. The curators of the museum were at first shocked, but now they just want the pieces returned so they can be re-attached to the statue.
The statue, known as “The Laocoön Group,” depicts the Greek God Laocoön and his two sons in a tussle with a horde of serpents sent by Athena and Poseidon for attempting to warn the Trojans about the wooden horse trick that led to the fall of Troy. It was defaced in three places — the heads of the two sons were removed completely and part of Laocoön’s leg was damaged as well, according to ABC7. The statue is located to the left of the main entrance to the museum, near the bronze Joan of Arc statue by Anna Hyatt Huntington.
“This is really sad,” Legion of Honor European Arts and Sculpture Curator Martin Chapman told ABC7. “This is a loss to the museum and people of San Francisco because this is a piece of art that's been vandalized wantonly.”
Though not an original, it is a reproduction of the same statue which was discovered in 1506 on the vineyards of Federico De Fredis and is kept in the Vatican. The original sculpture dates back to approximately 200 B.C. In his book “The Natural History,” Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder suggests that the sculpture was crafted by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. The marble replica at the Legion of Honor was given to the museum as a gift in 1930, though the museum website does not say who sculpted it.
The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is located in the Presidio and is part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the largest public arts institution in the city. The museum houses art that spans over 6,000 years of ancient history.
While there was no surveillance footage of the incident, SFPD is investigating the crime. Museum staff hope that a tip from the public will also help in the search.
"What we would like to do,” said Chapman, “is recover the missing parts most essential and restore the object.”
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Unknown-vandal-beheads-statue-at-SF-s-Legion-of-16679992.php
2021-12-06 21:04:06Z
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