upon gilt bronze-mounted marble base

The present bronze is a reduction of Bernini's celebrated marble group of Apollo and Daphne in the Borghese Gallery, Rome. When it was unveiled in 1625, the marble instantly made Bernini a celebrity across the Continent, and throughout the centuries, reductions in a variety of materials were produced to feed the demand of collectors for this sensational image. Derived from Ovid's Metamorphosis, Bernini depicted the moment in the story when Apollo, stuck by one of Cupid's arrows, pursues Daphne, the daughter of a river god. As she attempts escape, she prays to her father for help and he responds by transforming his daughter into a laurel tree, sprouting leaves and branches from her feet, hair and hands.