Apollo standing at left shooting a python with an arrow, above to the left are the muses and at right on a cloud Cupid approaching Apollo, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"

Master of the Die Italian
 After Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi Italian

Not on view

According to Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.253-444), Jupiter destroyed the violent race that arose from the blood of the Giants with a universal flood. When the waters receded, the monstrous Python emerged and was slain by Apollo, as seen in the foreground of this engraving. In the background, Apollo, in the pride of his victory, mocks Cupid (the Greek Eros) for attempting to wield the bow, a weapon unsuited to his diminutive stature. To the left, Cupid exacts his revenge, aiming at Apollo's heart the golden arrow that inflicts love. Cupid has already shot the nymph Daphne-seen in the distance leading the life of a virgin huntress-but with a lead-tipped arrow that has made her hostile to love.

Apollo standing at left shooting a python with an arrow, above to the left are the muses and at right on a cloud Cupid approaching Apollo, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne", Master of the Die (Italian, active Rome, ca. 1530–60), Engraving

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