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Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: light brown solid beech wood, handmade

Print on painter's canvas
Size: 80 x 60 cm (31.5 x 23.6 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine-grain painter's canvas
Frame: light brown beech wood and wood pulp, handmade

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The artwork

In the foreground of this extraordinary artwork, the undisputed protagonist is Apollo, the Greek god of light and music, depicted with a laurel wreath on his head. His right hand rises elegantly as he lifts the bow from the lira da braccio, still resting on his shoulder.

The subject of this scene is rooted in Greek mythology, specifically in the myth of Apollo and Daphne, which can be traced in the pages of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (I, 452-467). The story tells how Apollo, having defeated the fearsome monster Python, boasts of his success before Cupid, mocking him because the young god of love also carries a bow and arrows, weapons seemingly unsuited to a boy. Cupid, eager for revenge, shoots one of his arrows at Apollo, making him fall hopelessly in love, while with another arrow he strikes the beautiful nymph Daphne, arousing in her a total rejection of love. Apollo desperately pursues Daphne, but she, in her anguish, calls upon her father, the river god Peneus, to free her from the amorous desire of men. Her plea is granted, but with a surprising transformation: Daphne is turned into a laurel tree.

The image of Apollo in this artwork strongly echoes the classical idiom, highlighting its link with celebrated sculptures such as the Belvedere Torso and with the art of Renaissance masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo.

The artwork, known as the “Apollo of Dosso”, has had an eventful history and entered the Borghese collection for good in 1659, through the testamentary wishes of Luigi Capponi. The artist, who worked at the court of Alfonso d’Este in Ferrara, presumably painted it on the occasion of the marriage between the duke and Laura Dianti, which took place after the death of Lucrezia Borgia, Alfonso’s first wife.