From the time of its dramatic discovery on 14 January 1506 near Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, the Laocoon has ranked as one of the most celebrated, most admired, and most imitated of all ancient marbles (Haskell and Penny, loc. cit.). An unusual feature of the present bronze reduction is that its maker has significantly reduced the scale of Laocoon's two sons, thus radically changing the dynamics of the group as a whole.