Daphne running away from the love of Apollo, transformed into a tree 23cm Full length alabaster statue

Apollo and Daphne

Ιs a life-sized Baroque marble sculpture by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1622 and 1625. Housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the work depicts the climax of the story of Apollo and Daphne (Phoebus and Daphne) in Ovids Metamorphoses. The Metamorphoses is an 8 AD Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising 11,995 lines, 15 books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation. Daphne a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph. She is said by ancient sources variously to have been a daughter of the river god Peneus or of Ladon and of Gaia. Due to a curse made by the god Eros on the god Apollo (Phoebus), she became the unwilling object of the infatuation of Apollo, who chased her against her wishes. Just before being kissed by him, Daphne pleaded to her river god father for help, who transformed her into a laurel tree, thus foiling Apollo. Since then, the laurel is the sacred plant of the god Apollo.

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