Name of Object: Apollo and Daphne
Holding Museum: Borghese Gallery
Date of Object: 1622–1625
Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s): Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598, Naples-1680, Rome)
Museum Inventory Number: CV
Material(s) / Technique(s): Marble
Dimensions: h: 243 cm
Provenance: Borghese Collection
Type of object: Sculpture
Description: This sculpture is considered one of the masterpieces in the history of art. Bernini began sculpting it in 1622 after he finished The Rape of Proserpina. He stopped working on it from 1623 to 1624 to sculpt David, before completing it in 1625. With notable technical accuracy, the natural agility of this work shows the astonishing moment when the nymph turns into a laurel tree. The artist uses his exceptional technical skill to turn the marble into roots, leaves and windswept hair. Psychological research, combined with typically Baroque expressiveness, renders the emotion of Daphnes terror, caught by the god in her desperate journey, still ignorant of her ongoing transformation. Apollo, thinking he has achieved his objective, is caught in the moment he becomes aware of the metamorphosis, before he is able to react, watching astonished as his victim turns into a laurel tree. For Apollos head, Bernini looked to Apollo Belvedere, which was in the Vatican at the time. The base includes two scrolls, the first containing the lines of the distich by Maffeo Barberini, a friend of Cardinal Scipione Borghese and future Pope Urban VIII. It explores the theme of vanitas in beauty and pleasure, rendered as a Christian moralisation of a profane theme. The second scroll was added in the mid-1700s. The group, like others created by Bernini in the Villa, was backed on to a wall, setting a mandatory point of view for the visitor entering the room, to fulfil the pictorial objectives and provide the surprising scenery, key components of the baroque style. As with other sculptures, it was placed in the centre of the room during the renovations of 1700. Bernini worked with the sculptor Giuliano Finelli, who provided the delicate detailing on the base, rocks and part of the leaves and tree. View Short Description Bernini executed the group between 1622 and 1625. Such a pagan myth (by Ovid in Metamorphosis) in the cardinal's house is explained by a moral distich by Maffeo Barberini (Urbano VIII, 1623–1644) on the theme of vanitas “those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands.”
Original Owner: Cardinal Scipione Borghese
Current Owner: Italian State
How Object was obtained: The Borghese Collection was acquired by the Italian State in 1902.
Selected bibliography: Faldi, I., Galleria Borghese. Le sculture dal secolo XVI al secolo XIX, Rome, 1954, n.35, pp. 34–37. Wittkower, R., Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, London, 1955 (edition Italiana Milano, 1990, cat. 18, pp. 13–15). Coliva, A., “Apollo e Dafne”, in Bernini Scultore, La nascita del Barocco in Casa Borghese, exhibition catalogue, Rome, 1998, pp. 252– 275. Ulivi, M., Sorrentino, M. A., Chilosi, M. G., Rockwell P., “Apollo e Dafne” in Bernini scultore e la tecnica esecutiva, Rome, 2002, pp. 184–207.
Additional Copyright Information: Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.
Citation of this web page: Sofia Barchiesi, Maria Assunta SorrentinoApollo and Daphne in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers,2021 http://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php? id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;6;en
Prepared by: ,Translation by: ,Translation copyedited by: Sofia Barchiesi,Maria Assunta Sorrentino,Laurence Nunny,Mandi Gomez
MWNF Working Number: IT1 08