The sculpture "Laocoön," at the Vatican Museums, was unearthed in 1506, but a new theory says it is a forgery by Michelangelo

Lynn Catterson




Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

Lynn Catterson, the Columbia art historian who has suggested that the sculpture "Laocoön" is a forgery perpetrated by Michelangelo.


Dr. Catterson has suggested that "Laocoön," a fabled sculpture whose unearthing in 1506 has deeply influenced thinking about the ancient Greeks and the nature of the visual arts, may well be a Renaissance forgery - possibly by Michelangelo himself.