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Apollo Slays the Python and Quarrels with Cupid: From the series The Story of Apollo and Daphne, mid-16th century
Master of the Die (active Rome ca. 1525–60), after Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (Italian, Sienese, 1481–1536)
Engraving; sheet approx. 7 1/8 x 9 5/8 in. (18.1 x 24.4 cm)
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.323)

According to Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.253–444), Jupiter destroyed the violent race that arose from the blood of the Giants with a universal flood. When the waters receded, the monstrous Python emerged and was slain by Apollo, as seen in the foreground of this engraving. In the background, Apollo, in the pride of his victory, mocks Cupid (the Greek Eros) for attempting to wield the bow, a weapon unsuited to his diminutive stature. To the left, Cupid exacts his revenge, aiming at Apollo's heart the golden arrow that inflicts love. Cupid has already shot the nymph Daphne—seen in the distance leading the life of a virgin huntress—but with a lead-tipped arrow that has made her hostile to love.

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    • Apollo Slays the Python and Quarrels with Cupid: From the series The Story of Apollo and Daphne, mid-16th century
    Master of the Die (active Rome ca. 1525–60), after Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (Italian, Sienese, 1481–1536)
    Engraving; sheet approx. 7 1/8 x 9 5/8 in. (18.1 x 24.4 cm)
    The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.323)
     Apollo's Pursuit of Daphne and Daphne's Transformation into a Laurel: From the series The Story of Apollo and Daphne, mid-16th century
    Master of the Die (active Rome ca. 1525–60), after Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (Italian, Sienese, 1481–1536)
    Engraving; sheet approx. 7 1/8 x 9 5/8 in. (18.1 x 24.4 cm)
    The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.325)

    This print, the third in the series, depicts Apollo's vain pursuit. The verses at the bottom of the engraving describe, in a paraphrase of Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.527–30), how the wind further kindled Apollo's longing by lifting Daphne's garments to reveal her lovely limbs. In the background, Apollo finally grasps his love, but too late, for her father has answered her plea and transformed her into a laurel. Apollo vowed that the tree would henceforth adorn his lyre and provide a crown for victors. As Apollo is the god of poetry—a role alluded to by the vignette of Parnassus in the first print—the laurel wreath came to be associated with the victorious poet.

     Apollo's Pursuit of Daphne and Daphne's Transformation into a Laurel: From the series The Story of Apollo and Daphne, mid-16th century
    Master of the Die (active Rome ca. 1525–60), after Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (Italian, Sienese, 1481–1536)
    Engraving; sheet approx. 7 1/8 x 9 5/8 in. (18.1 x 24.4 cm)
    The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.325)

    This print, the third in the series, depicts Apollo's vain pursuit. The verses at the bottom of the engraving describe, in a paraphrase of Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.527–30), how the wind further kindled Apollo's longing by lifting Daphne's garments to reveal her lovely limbs. In the background, Apollo finally grasps his love, but too late, for her father has answered her plea and transformed her into a laurel. Apollo vowed that the tree would henceforth adorn his lyre and provide a crown for victors. As Apollo is the god of poetry—a role alluded to by the vignette of Parnassus in the first print—the laurel wreath came to be associated with the victorious poet.

     Apollo's Pursuit of Daphne and Daphne's Transformation into a Laurel: From the series The Story of Apollo and Daphne, mid-16th century
    Master of the Die (active Rome ca. 1525–60), after Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (Italian, Sienese, 1481–1536)
    Engraving; sheet approx. 7 1/8 x 9 5/8 in. (18.1 x 24.4 cm)
    The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.325)

    This print, the third in the series, depicts Apollo's vain pursuit. The verses at the bottom of the engraving describe, in a paraphrase of Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.527–30), how the wind further kindled Apollo's longing by lifting Daphne's garments to reveal her lovely limbs. In the background, Apollo finally grasps his love, but too late, for her father has answered her plea and transformed her into a laurel. Apollo vowed that the tree would henceforth adorn his lyre and provide a crown for victors. As Apollo is the god of poetry—a role alluded to by the vignette of Parnassus in the first print—the laurel wreath came to be associated with the victorious poet.