Apollo Pursuing Daphne
Giovanni Battista Tiepoloc. 1755/1760
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Throughout his career Tiepolo painted small pictures of mythological themes, which proved extremely popular. The subjects of these works came from the best–known episodes from ancient literature, but his conception of the stories was varied and original. His depiction of Apollo and Daphne comes directly from Ovid's _Metamorphoses_. Daphne, the beautiful nymph and follower of the chaste goddess Diana, was pursued by the sun god Apollo, who had been struck by Cupid's golden arrow of love. Fleeing Apollo, Daphne reached her father, the river god Peneus, seen here at left. To avoid Apollo's unwanted advances, she was turned into a laurel tree. The transformation takes place before us as her leg turns into a trunk and her arms sprout branches.
The _Apollo Pursuing Daphne_ is unique among interpretations of the theme. Apollo's forward thrust seems to propel Daphne backward in a composition of excited movement. Cupid takes cover from the wrath of Apollo that will shortly ensue, and Peneus remains firmly rooted in an effort to stop the ardent pursuer. The off–center composition, typical of Venetian art, was used by Tiepolo elsewhere but never in such a dramatic and emotionally intense manner.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication_ Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_, which is available as a free PDF <u>https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/italian-paintings-17th-and-18th-centuries.pdf</u>
- Title: Apollo Pursuing Daphne
- Creator: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
- Date Created: c. 1755/1760
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 68.5 x 87 cm (26 15/16 x 34 1/4 in.) framed: 88.3 x 105.7 x 5.7 cm (34 3/4 x 41 5/8 x 2 1/4 in.)
- Provenance: Friedrich Jakob Gsell, Vienna, after 1849; (his sale, held by Georg Plach at the Künstlerhaus, Vienna, 14 March 1872, no 506b).[1] M. de Villars, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 1 May 1874, no. 85). Édouard Kann, Paris.[2] Mme D[elaney]; (her sale, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 9 June 1933, no. 28); purchased by (Fort).[3] Pierre Lauth, Paris.[4] (sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 23 May 1950, no. 28).[5] (Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York); purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] In his introduction to the sale catalogue, Plach explained that Gsell began collecting pictures in 1849 and made his first large purchase at the sale of Baron Samuel von Festetits, Artaria, Vienna, 11 April, 2 May and following, 1850. The painting does not appear in the Festetits catalogue, which was checked by Elspeth Hector, head of the library at the National Gallery in London. [2] According to _Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection, Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951_, Washington, D.C., 1951: 158. [3] The sale catalogue identifies the painting as "appartenant à Mme D." Kress 1951: 158, lists a Mme Delaney as the next owner after Kann. A marginal notation in the Knoedler Microfiche copy of the catalogue gives the purchaser as Fort, apparently a dealer. [4] Lauth's ownership is recorded only in Kress 1951: 158. He may have been the seller in the subsequent sale. [5] Fern Rusk Shapley, _Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XVI-XVIII Century_, London, 1973: 149, and Fern Rusk Shapley, _Catalogue of Italian Paintings_, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:449, misidentified the owner as M.G., who included only porcelain in this sale. [6] According to Kress 1951: 158, Shapley 1973: 149, and Shapley 1979: 1:449. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/305.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: oil on canvas
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