| Apollo Belvedere | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Artist | AfterLeochares |
| Year | c. AD 120–140 |
| Type | White marble |
| Dimensions | 224 cm (88 in) |
| Location | Vatican Museums,Vatican City |
| Coordinates | 41°54′23″N12°27′16″E / 41.906389°N 12.454444°E /41.906389; 12.454444 |
TheApollo Belvedere (also called theBelvedere Apollo,Apollo of the Belvedere, orPythian Apollo)[1] is a celebratedmarblesculpture fromclassical antiquity.
The work has been dated to mid-way through the 2nd century A.D. and is considered to be a Roman copy of an original bronze statue created between 330 and 320 B.C. by the Greek sculptorLeochares.[2] It was rediscovered in central Italy in the late 15th century during theItalian Renaissance and was placed on semi-public display in theVatican Palace in 1511, where it remains. It is now in theCortile del Belvedere of thePio-Clementine Museum of theVatican Museums complex.
From the mid-18th century it was considered the greatest ancient sculpture by ardentneoclassicists, and for centuries it epitomized the ideals ofaesthetic perfection for Europeans and westernized parts of the world.
The Greek godApollo is depicted as a standingarcher having just shot an arrow. Although there is no agreement as to the precise narrative detail being depicted, the conventional view has been that he has just slain the serpentPython, thechthonic serpent guardingDelphi—making the sculpture aPythian Apollo. Alternatively, it may be the slaying of the giantTityos, who threatened his motherLeto, or the episode of theNiobids.
The large white marble sculpture is 2.24 m (7.3 feet) high. Its complexcontrapposto has been much admired, appearing to position the figure both frontally and in profile. The arrow has just left Apollo's bow and the effort impressed on his musculature still lingers. His hair, lightly curled, flows in ringlets down his neck and rises gracefully to the summit of his head, which is encircled with thestrophium, a band symbolic of gods and kings. Hisquiver is suspended across his right shoulder. He is entirelynude except for his sandals and a robe (chlamys) clasped at his right shoulder, turned up on his left arm, and thrown back.
The lower part of the right arm and the left hand were missing when discovered and were restored byGiovanni Angelo Montorsoli (1507–1563), a sculptor and pupil ofMichelangelo.
However in the five year restoration that ended in 2024 the left hand was replaced by a copy of the "Hand of Baia". This hand is an ancient plaster cast of the original statue found in Baia, and therefore was used to make a new left arm more in line with the original.
Before its installation in theCortile delle Statue of the Belvedere palace in theVatican, theApollo—which seems to have been discovered in 1489 in the presentAnzio (at that time territory ofNettuno[3]), or perhaps atGrottaferrata whereGiuliano della Rovere was abbotin commendam[4]—apparently received very little notice from artists.[5] It was, however, sketched twice during the last decade of the 15th century in the book of drawings by a pupil ofDomenico Ghirlandaio, now at theEscorial.[6] Though it has always been known to have belonged to Giuliano della Rovere before he became pope, asJulius II, its placement has been confused until as recently as 1986:[7] Cardinal della Rovere, who held thetitulus ofSan Pietro in Vincoli, stayed away from Rome for the decade duringAlexander VI's papacy (1494–1503); in the interim, theApollo stood in his garden at SS. Apostoli, Deborah Brown has shown, and not at histitular church, as had been assumed.
Once it was installed in the Cortile, however, it immediately became famous in artistic circles and a demand for copies of it arose. The Mantuan sculptorPier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, called "L'Antico", made a careful wax model of it, which he cast in bronze, finely finished and partly gilded, to figure in theGonzaga collection, and in further copies in a handful of others.Albrecht Dürer reversed theApollo's pose for his Adam in a 1504 engraving ofAdam and Eve, suggesting that he saw it in Rome. When L'Antico and Dürer saw it, the Apollo was probably still in the personal collection of della Rovere, who, once he was pope asJulius II, transferred the prize in 1511 to the small sculpture court of theBelvedere, thepalazzetto or summerhouse that was linked to theVatican Palace by Bramante's largeCortile del Belvedere. It became theApollo of the Cortile del Belvedere, and the name has remained with it.
In addition to Dürer, several major artists during the late Renaissance sketched theApollo, includingMichelangelo,Bandinelli, andGoltzius. In the 1530s it was engraved byMarcantonio Raimondi, whose printed image transmitted the famous pose throughout Europe.
TheApollo became one of the world's most celebrated art works when in 1755 it was championed by the Germanart historian andarchaeologistJohann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) as the best example of the perfection of the Greek aesthetic ideal. Its "noble simplicity and quiet grandeur", as he described it, became one of the leading lights ofneoclassicism and an icon of theEnlightenment.Goethe,Schiller andByron all endorsed it.[8] TheApollo was one ofthe artworks brought to Paris byNapoleon after his1796 Italian Campaign. From 1798 it formed part of the collection of theLouvre during theFirst Empire, but after 1815 was returned to theVatican where it has remained ever since.[9]
The neoclassical sculptorAntonio Canova adapted the work's fluency to his marblePerseus (Vatican Museums) in 1801.
TheRomantic movement was not so kind to theApollo's critical reputation.William Hazlitt (1778–1830), one of the great critics of the English language, was not impressed and dismissed it as "positively bad". The eminent art criticJohn Ruskin (1819–1900) wrote of his disappointment with it.
Finally, starting something of a trend among some later commentators, the art criticWalter Pater (1839–1894) adverted to the work'shomoerotic appeal by way of explaining why it had been so long lionized.[8] The opinion was not widely accepted. Nevertheless, the work retained much popular appeal and casts of it were abundant in European and American public places (especially schools) throughout the 19th century.[citation needed]
The critical reputation of theApollo continued to decline in the 20th century, to the point of complete neglect. In 1969, a summary of its reception up to that point was provided by theart historianKenneth Clark (1903–1983):
"...For four hundred years after it was discovered the Apollo was the most admired piece of sculpture in the world. It was Napoleon's greatest boast to have looted it from theVatican. Now it is completely forgotten except by the guides ofcoach parties, who have become the only surviving transmitters of traditional culture."[10]
Media related toApollo Belvedere at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Venanzo Crocetti Museum | Landmarks of Rome Apollo Belvedere | Succeeded by Augustus of Prima Porta |
