Apollo and Daphne

probably 1470–80

Oil on wood, 29.5 × 20 cm · National Gallery, London

A tiny panel meant to be held and studied up close, possibly made for Lorenzo de’ Medici, whose emblem used the laurel. It was once thought to come from a piece of furniture.

Daphne’s arms have already become great laurel branches, and one leg a trunk.
Apollo runs in a rich hunting costume picked out with gold.
Behind them is the Arno valley with a distant city, probably Florence.
Still in a 16th-century Italian frame; at the National Gallery since 1876.

Apollo pursued the nymph Daphne, who prayed to escape and was turned into a laurel tree. The laurel became Apollo’s sacred plant.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain