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Laocoön: P.398-1985

An image of Print
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Alternative views

An image of Print
An image of Print
Current Location: In storage

Titles

Laocoön

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Blake, William

Entities

Categories

Legal notes

Allocated by H.M. Treasury through the Minister of Arts, accepted in lieu of capital taxes

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1985-04) by Keynes, Sir Geoffrey

Dating

1810s
Production date: circa AD 1818

Note

Based on the Antique sculpture carved in Rhodes (c.25 B.C.), now in the Vatican, which Blake engraved as one of seven plates to illustrate an article by John Flaxman on sculpture for Abraham Rees' The Cyclopaedia, dated 1815.

Only two impressions survive. This one seems to be the later.

School or Style

British

People, subjects and objects depicted

Materials used in production

Black carbon ink

Components of the work

Support composed of paper
Plate Height 274 mm Width 227 mm
Sheet Height 382 mm Width 275 mm

Techniques used in production

Line engraving

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: Drawn & Engraved by William Blake
  • Location: Image lower centre
  • Method of creation: Printed
  • Type: Signature

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.398-1985
Primary reference Number: 725
Bindman: 623
Essick: XIX I A

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 October 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Laocoön" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/725 Accessed: 2025-12-05 08:44:57

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/725 |title=Laocoön |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 08:44:57|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-725

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

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<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp35/P_398_1985.jpg"
        alt="Laocoön"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Laocoön</figcaption>
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