Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"
Engraved by Master of the Die Italian
Designed by Baldassarre Tommaso Peruzzi Italian
Not on view
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.
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