Apollo and Daphne

Nicolas Poussin completed this Apollo and Daphne around 1625-1627, depicting the moment from Ovid's Metamorphoses when the nymph transforms into a laurel tree to escape the god's pursuit. Apollo reaches toward Daphne as bark begins to cover her skin and branches sprout from her fingers.

Cupid hovers above, responsible for the chase: he shot Apollo with a golden arrow of love and Daphne with a lead arrow of aversion. Onlookers react with varying degrees of concern. Poussin's use of dramatic light and earth tones gives the mythological scene a theatrical quality.

The canvas measures 97 by 131 centimeters and hangs at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Poussin was living in Rome when he painted this, immersed in studying classical art and literature. His intellectual approach to painting made him a favorite of French collectors and eventually the court of Louis XIV.