Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Apollo and Daphne, possibly 1460s, oil (?) on panel (possibly cypress), 11 5/8 x 7 7/8 in. The National Gallery, London, Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876

Selected Works

From Cassone to Poesia:
Paintings of Love and Marriage

Apollo and Daphne

Pollaiuolo's lyrical depiction of the tale of Apollo and Daphne is a meditation on love, its pursuit and loss, and the consolation of poetry. Apollo, whom Cupid had filled with love for the chaste nymph Daphne, chases her until she is transformed into a laurel tree to escape him (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.452—67). The laurel then becomes sacred to Apollo. During the Renaissance, Petrarch, whose love poems are dedicated to his beloved Laura, used the symbol of the laurel to stand for unattainable love and the crowning of the poet. This precious panel was long thought to be from a nuptial chest, but it is more likely to have been designed as an independent painting, one of the earliest such mythologies. Possibly it was created for Lorenzo de' Medici, who associated himself with Apollo and adopted the laurel as a device. Pollaiuolo beautifully renders the sweeping landscape with a hazy distant view of Florence, as well as the fleeting motion of the figures.

Return to From Cassone to Poesia: Paintings of Love and Marriage