Apollo and Daphne

Title: Apollo and Daphne

Sculptor: Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Dates: 1622-1625

Dimensions: approximately 6 feet

Location: Borghese Gallery- Rome, Italy

Sources:

http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edafne.htm

http://www.loggia.com/myth/daphne3.html

Image by: http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edafne.htm

At the age of 24 Bernini was a master at art and capturing raw emotion in his sculptures. His statue, Apollo and Daphne tells the story of impossible love and the measures that are taken by the lover and the loved. The myth goes that Apollo sees Eros (son of Aphrodite) playing with arrows and insults him. In revenge, Eros shoots Apollo with one arrow to make him fall in love. Eros also shoots Daphne with one that makes her spurn love. Apollo pursues her for her love and she flees in fear. As he gains on her, she calls to her father, Peneus (a river god, child of Oceanus) for help. Hearing her cries he turns her into a laurel tree to protect her from the lust of Apollo. Apollo vows to use her branches as his crown, and to decorate his harp and bow. He also promises to always take care of her, and so the Laurel leaves have never decayed. Bernini inscribed the podium this statue rests upon with the words, “Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands.”