When was the apollo belvedere made

The same admiration drove Napoleon to loot the marble sculpture during his campaign of Italy in , taking it back to France in order to display it in the Louvre. Apostoli" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 49 Related works:. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 3. Indeed, Apollo is most often associated with the cultivated arts of music and medicine, and his role as the leader of the Muses establishes him as a patron of intellectual pursuits.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that in art, images of Apollo represented the height of male attractiveness - indeed, for years, Archaic statues of youths were commonly referred to as "Apollo", later to be replaced the more accurate term "kouros" young man. However, as with most Greek deities, Apollo has characteristics that are myriad and diverse, so we should proceed to an exploration of this important god.

And the details of how Apollo and his sister were born make an intriguing story, so let us look at this legend more closely. The myth of Apollo's birth includes another instance of the wrath of Hera. Again, the wife of the philandering Zeus discovered that her husband had impregnated yet another goddess, and this time it was the Titan Leto.

In her anger, Hera would not allow Leto to bear her children remember, she was pregnant with the twin gods Apollo and Artemis , and the land itself was afraid to provide a shelter for Leto because of the fear of Hera's notorious retribution. Finally, Leto found an island that was willing to allow her to give birth, and this island was named Delos which means "brilliant", and, incidentally, inspired the epithet Delian in honor of the divine site.

Apollo was then cared for by Themis, who fed him nectar and ambrosia for a few days, after which time he was an adult capable of assuming the full responsibilities of a god. And this is the story of how Apollo was born in Greek mythology.

Gift of Henry Pickering, Modern visitors to art museums have the reasonable expectation of seeing original works of art. Except for ancient Roman copies of older Greek sculptures, museums do not, as a rule, knowingly exhibit copies or objects with questionable authorship.

Within certain limits, however, this has not always been the case. From the s, when the first art organization was founded in the United States, through the American Civil War, it was almost impossible for art academies, libraries, athenaeums, or museums in this country to acquire original examples from all the great epochs of Western art. Attempts to do so were fraught with logistical problems, could easily be delayed by political changes, or, more often, were prohibited by fiscal limitations.

In lieu of originals, copies of good quality were deemed not only desirable but also necessary, and good copies by competent painters, engravers, casters, or carvers were energetically sought and enthusiastically acquired.

The copies that were easiest to procure were engravings based on paintings by famous artists; more desirable were copies painted in oil on canvas, making them as close to the original as possible, at least in terms of medium. These reproductions were often made by professional copyists or by artists with no other work at hand.

In terms of sculpture, plaster casts—or copies in fine marble, if budgets allowed—of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture were also fairly accessible, although one had to be cautious about quality.