Apollo and Daphne

Artist Sodoma (Italian, 1477–1549)

Dateafter 1500

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 56.4 x 32.1 cm (22 3/16 x 12 5/8 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

canvas

Object number1925.120

Label TextGiovanni Antonio Bazzi, known as Il Sodoma, was born at Vercelli, where he apprenticed to Martino Spanzorti for seven years. After 1500, Sodoma is recorded working mainly in Siena. These paintings once decorated a ceiling in Siena’s Palazzo Chigi. The simplified landscapes and the dark, coarse shading of the figures would have been appropriate for canvases meant to be viewed from a distance. All the known paintings from this ceiling depict stories from the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE). In the first panel, the nymph Daphne flees the unwanted attentions of the god Apollo, who has been struck by one of Cupid’s love-darts. She will soon be transformed into a laurel tree, escaping Apollo forever. The second canvas depicts the fall of Phaeton, a son of Apollo. After recklessly driving Apollo’s sun-chariot, wreaking havoc with the weather on earth, Phaeton is struck down by one of Jupiter’s thunderbolts. His weeping sisters transform into trees, while his friend Cygnus laments, and turns into a swan. The third painting depicts the moment when Polyphemus the Cyclops discovers the sea nymph Galatea with her lover Acis. Polyphemus will kill Acis in jealousy, but Galatea will transform Acis into an immortal river deity. ProvenanceRaymond Henniker-Heaton, Worcester MA

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