The original work is made of marble and depicts an episode narrated in the Aeneid. The creators are Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, sculptors from Rhodes, who created it between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD.

This face represents the suffering and effort of Laocoön, priest of Apollo, as he contorts in an attempt to free himself and his children from the snakes, a punishment from Poseidon for attempting to prevent the entry of the famous wooden horse into Troy.

This sculpture impressed Michelangelo so much that he defined it "a marvel of art". The original work is housed in the Vatican Museums in Rome.