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Apollo Pursuing Daphne, with Cupid and the River-God Peneus, Daphne's Father

Apollo Pursuing Daphne, with Cupid and the River-God Peneus, Daphne's Father

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Paolo de' Matteis (circle of)

Apollo Pursuing Daphne, with Cupid and River-God Peneus, Her Father, attributed to Paolo di Matteis, illustrates a story from the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid; these stories all tell of people who are changed into plants or animals. Daphne was a hunter devoted to the hunter-goddess Diana and pledged to remain a virgin. Apollo, god of flocks, archery, music, and the sun, ridiculed the love-god Cupid who had only a little bow and arrow. In revenge Cupid shot Apollo with a golden arrow to make him love Daphne; he then shot Daphne with a lead arrow, to harden her heart against Apollo. Daphne asked her father to help her escape from Apollo, and Peneus turned her into a laurel tree. In the painting Apollo wearing a quiver of arrows pursues Daphne, as Cupid prepares to shoot the lead arrow into her heart; in the left foreground Peneus, with his oar, watches.
Artist
Paolo de' Matteis (circle of)
(Italian, 1662 - 1728)
Title
Apollo Pursuing Daphne, with Cupid and the River-God Peneus, Daphne's Father
Date
ca. 1700
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
54 1/8 x 68 in. Overall
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marc B. Rojtman
Accession No.
60.5.4
Classification
Paintings
Geography
Italy

Related

By 1960, acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Marc B. Rojtman (Milwaukee, WI); December 1960, gifted to the University of Wisconsin–Madison; 1967, transferred to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • "SchoolsMusuemsART (SMART) Project." Madison, WI: Madison Metropolitan School District, 2002.
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 49
  • Newcome Schleier, Mary. "A Mythological painting by Domenico Piola." Paragone, Anno LXII, Terza serie, no. 103, 747 (May 2012): 38-42.

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