Blueseries – Laocoonte by Silvio Porzionato
Silvio Porzionato pays homage to the masterpieces of the great masters of classical art that have guided his path as an artist.
On January 14, 1506, a statue over 2 meters tall was fortuitously found in Rome at the vineyard of the Roman gentleman Felice de Fredis on the Esquiline Hill. It was the statuary group of the Laocoon, a character mentioned by Virgil in the second book of the Aeneid.
The discovery of the Laocoon had enormous resonance among artists and sculptors and significantly influenced Italian Renaissance art and, in the following century, Baroque sculpture. Extraordinary indeed was the attention the statue attracted; the strong dynamism and heroic, tormented plasticity of the Laocoon inspired numerous artists, from Michelangelo to Titian, from El Greco to Andrea del Sarto.
Michelangelo, for example, was particularly impressed by the statue’s significant mass and sensual appearance, particularly in the depiction of the male figures. Laocoon influenced many of Michelangelo’s works after its discovery, such as the Rebel Slave and the Dying Slave. Numerous sculptors practiced on the sculptural group by making casts and copies, even life-size copies. In addition, Raphael Sanzio would take his cue from it to draw the twist visible in the Baglioni Altarpiece.
LaOCOONTE by SILVIO PORZIONATO
Porzionato’s Laocoon stands, in all its pride, on the majestic Scalone d’Onore located inside the Royal Palace of Turin. His body follows, sinuous and sensual, the line of the monumental marble structure, in a game of decomposition and interweaving between the sculptural Group, the balustrade and the mural background. Laocoon is, perspective-wise, in an elevated position above the viewer. The access point of the painting is from below to above, giving further grandeur, dignity, and royalty to the painting, a regal dignity also accentuated by the setting chosen by the artist. The marriage of ancient and contemporary is concentrated in this version of the work, both in the choice of transposed elements and in the technical rendering, given by the fusion of figurative, abstract, cubism and Silvio Porzionato’s unique style.
Laocoonte by Silvio Porzionato: http://www.rossettiartecontemporanea.it/opera/laocoonte-blueseries/
