Apollo and Daphne: a bozzetto

Symbolising the triumph of Chastity over Love, the present recently discovered bozzetto captures with flickering, fluid brushstrokes Apollo's dramatic pursuit of the terrified nymph, Daphne. Her father, the river god Peneus, reaches out from the riverbed to protect his daughter, who begins her metamorphosis into a laurel tree, the tips of her fingers sprouting with branches (Ovid, Metamorphosis, I:452ff). Known for his extravagant fantasy, the depiction of subjects taken from mythology and epic poetry was well-suited to Giacomo del Po's natural ability to convey emotional expressiveness and sweeping movement, exemplified here in the intricate balance of the three interlaced central figures. The present canvas loosely recalls a pen and brown ink sketch of the same subject (sold Sotheby's, London, 25 March 1982, lot 56), and directly relates to the second of a pair of large unlined canvases (Narcissus; and Apollo and Daphne, sold Christie's, South Kensington, 27 October, 1999, lot 353 for £70,000).

We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution to Giacomo del Po on inspection of the original.