Apollo & Daphne (Bernini) The genial sculptural masterpiece, Apollo and Daphne, was the last of Bernini's works commissioned by the Borghese family and one of his most popular statues. [original research? Even in this form Apollo still loves her. This life-size marble sculpture, begun by Bernini at the age of twenty-four and executed between 1622 and 1625, has always been housed in the same room in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. [original research? For this reason, the leaves of the Bay laurel tree do not decay. This statue portrays the futile romance between Apollo and Daphne; Apollo is deeply in love with Daphne, a woman who abhors Apollo’s advances. They were evenly matched in the race until Eros intervened, helping Apollo catch up to Daphne. . …to the hallucinatory vision of Apollo and Daphne (1622–24), which was intended to be viewed from one spot as if it were a relief. While he does use this type of word order earlier in the story there are many moments at the end where his use is obvious. First Cupid takes out a leaden arrow and shoots the nymph Daphne with it. She, however, begged her father to let her remain unmarried; he eventually complied. He is able to relate the characteristics of the animals to the characters in his story. From the back of the sculpture one only views Apollo chasing after this nymph. Her father, the river god Peneus, demanded that she get married and give him grandchildren. Ovid also continues on to write, “amor est mihi causa sequendi” meaning “love is the reason of following for me”. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. http://www.rome.info/bernini/apollo-daphne/ While Apollo was hit by Cupid's love-exciting arrow when he saw Daphne, the Nymph has been fated by love-repelling one and … This god, whom encompasses many different intellectual things, is depicted as the peak of masculine beauty. This website uses cookies. Ovid uses animalistic terms here by saying “flight." It sets the entire scene. Bernini. Apollo was heart-broken at the loss of Daphne and to remember her for ever, he made the laurel the symbol of tribute to poets. . You will be content to provoke some loves by your fire, not to lay claim to my honors.” This is the context behind the story. To finish out the story in the last scene one sees tragic end of the tale as Daphne is engulfed by a laurel tree. Bernini portrays Apollo with a sense of great loss on his face. Bernini began work on this sculpture at the young age of 24, at the exact time his popularity was beginning to grow. Apollo and Daphne. ], During the chase itself, Daphne is said to be "celer timore" or quick by fear. At the exact moment Apollo’s gaze lands upon Daphne he is inflamed in love. As for the patron who commissioned this work, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the meaning can be read inscribed into the base of the sculpture. What Bernini captured in his sculpture was the exact moment of metamorphoses. Many art historians describe this cinematic optical effect as being like the actual metamorphosis was taking place before the viewer's eyes, like a kind of movie in stone. In many cultures, some women have desired to hold onto virginity. Bernini’s sculpture is a metaphor for how sculpture transforms one material into its opposite. ], In Metamorphoses, Ovid uses specific word orders to show Daphne's transformation from a woman to a tree. Your email address will not be published. He does this to compare the beauty she once had to the harsh new form she takes as a tree. The influence of antique sculptures like the Apollo in the Vatican Museums can be clearly seen. This use of chiasmus allows us to imagine what is literally happening. [original research? Yet, through another devious intervention Cupid hastens Apollo onto his prize. The sculpture is now in the center of the room, which allows us to move around it. She pleads with her father (Peneus) to make her ugly so that Apollo will This shows us the severity of the situation she is in; Daphne doesn’t just view Apollo as someone who is in love with her, but instead as an enemy. In the tale of Apollo and Daphne, one could see Apollo as a man crazed by desire for something that he cannot attain: Daphne. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Some of the most important academic resources on Bernini and his works include the following;• Bauer, George, ed. Thus the pattern is set for the weaving of this tragic tale. While pieces of sculpture were traditionally designed to be seen from one particular angle (an optimal viewpoint), no such viewpoint exists here; the viewer has to walk all the way around the sculpture for the maximum effect.When approaching the sculpture from behind, Daphne's body is obscured by Apollo, and only bits of the tree are visible, but as the viewer walks around, he discovers Daphne's body. By further using this website, you agree with cookies. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Apollo being the son of Zeus, was accustomed to getting his own way so Daphneâs refusal of his advances aroused him even more! So Cupid’s revenge was complete, but Apollo still in love decides to make that tree his own. ], In the prologue to the story, Apollo has had a sense of conceit towards Cupid, so much that Cupid decides to change this permanently. Italian and French contemporaries praised the artist with detailed biographies, sure of the genius in their midst.Naturally Bernini had his fair share of devoted followers. . The sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” was crafted by the famous Italian sculpture Bernini. The presence of this pagan myth in the Cardinalâs villa was justified by a moral couplet composed in Latin by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII), engraved on the statueâs base which reads: Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands. Out of spite, Cupid then pricked him with one of his amour-inducing arrows, causing the god to fall madly in love with the passing-by river nymph Daphne. The young artist certainly flexed his technical and creative muscles in this piece at a time when his popularity was growing amongst Romeâs rich and powerful patrons. ( Log Out / Like his other works, the Rape of Persephone is fraught with emotion and tension, achieving a hitherto unseen level of life-like action. harens. This sculpture is inspired by a tale from book I of Ovid's Metamorphosis, which recounts how one day Apollo (God of Light and Poetry) teased an arrow-wielding Cupid, calling him too young a boy to be fit to handle such dangerous weapons. He heeded her prayer by transforming her into a laurel tree. Nevertheless, the sculpture is fully finished on all sides allowing light to define form with almost spiritual intensity. This arrow affects Daphne by making her despise love and turn towards other pursuits. Penguin Books, 1965 • Lavin, Irving. http://www.students.sbc.edu/vermilya08/Bernini/Apollo%20and%20Daphne.htm On the other hand, the Apollo Belvedere was the prototype for works as different in style as the figure of Apollo in Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, and Canova's Perseus. Yet Apollo’s face betrays his surprising realization of the nymph’s metamorphoses as his feet tread upon the newly formed roots. http://library.thinkquest.org/C005321/tq/Myth%20Library/Daphne%20and%20Apollo.htm. Bernini forever changed the face of the city of Rome and single-handedly launched the style that would dominate seventeenth-century Italian sculpture.Heralded by many in his lifetime as the heir of Michelangelo, Gian Lorenzo Bernini worked primarily in a steady stream of critical success. Note that Pythia, the priestess in the oracle of Delphi, was chewing leaves of laurel to communicate with Apollo and give her prophesies to people. Prentice-Hall, 1976 • Borsi, Franco. Apollo wears a laurel crown, and Daphne is portrayed halfway through her metamorphosis into the laurel tree with her arms already transforming into its branches as she flees and calls to her father to save her from Apollo.[1]. Housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, Apollo and Daphne was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese after he gave The Rape of Proserpina to Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi. "[original research? Apollo and Daphne's tale is the subject of an amazing sculpture by the Italian sculptor Bernini. Ovid uses the word order A-B-B-A with the B's being her body each A being the "citaeque fugae." Bernini displays most of the metamorphoses on the right side of Daphne, however, in order to allow the viewer to gain the whole tale as they circle the sculpture. In this instance, Ovid also uses the sounds of the words to call attention to what is happening. Bernini in France: An Episode in Seventeenth-Century History. Daphne herself was a nymph who though not a god, had power over natural phenomena like springs and trees. [3], In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book I: Apollo and Daphne, Ovid uses animals to make the emotions of characters more relatable to the reader. The myth of Apollo and Daphne begins with an exchange of words between Apollo and Cupid. Daphne is forced to sacrifice her body and become the laurel tree as her only form of escape from the pressures of Apollo's constant sexual desires. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981 • Hibbard, Howard. Apollo and Daphne is a story from ancient Greek mythology, retold by Hellenistic and Roman authors in the form of an amorous vignette. Daphne, on the other hand, is sculpted midway through her transformation into a tree. The insulted Eros then prepared two arrows: one of gold and one of lead. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. He wants Daphne to “hold back flight” which echoes the dove and the eagle in the previous lines. Her toes have taken root, her flesh has turned to bark, her hair to leaves, and her arms to branches. Rome in the Age of Bernini. Apollo and Daphne is a story from ancient Greek mythology, retold by Hellenistic and Roman authors in the form of an amorous vignette. The "tuebere" is among "mediamque. The couplet inscribed here reads, “Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands,” (Pope Urban VIII).
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