SIC. ROMAE. EX. MARMORE. SCVLPTO -- L'APOLLO DEL BELVEDERE -- Incisione di Marcantonio Raimondi -- Metropolitan Museum of New York

Speranza

Apollo Belvedere, ca. 1530–34
Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, ca. 1480–before 1534)
Engraving

11 1/2 x 6 3/8 in. (29.1 x 16.2 cm)
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.114)

The Apollo del Belvedere was discovered in Rome in the late fifteenth century.

Possibly a second-century marble copy of a bronze original by the Greek sculptor Leochares, the statue was immediately appreciated as a masterpiece and showered with praise that has not yet ceased.

Once in the private collection of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (later Pope Julius II, r. 1503–13), the Apollo del Bel Vedere was moved to the courtyard of the Bel Vedere villa in 1509 and placed, in 1511, in the Cortile del Bel Vedere,from which it derives its name.

Raimondi's print became an important vehicle through which knowledge of the statue was transmitted far beyond the Bel Vedere.

Raimondi is famous for his many engravings after the designs of Raphael, including images such as the Judgment of Paris (19.74.1), scenes that, like the Apollo, illustrate Renaissance interest in classical antiquity and mythology.

Here, Raimondi's mastery for replicating the effects of light on marble produces a convincing impression of the statue's form.

Many artists incorporated the Apollo's much-lauded pose into their own work.

Albrecht Dürer reverses the position of the figure's limbs and Apollo becomes Adam, reaching for the fruited branch offered by his mate in the 1504 engraving Adam and Eve (19.73.1).

A similar Apollo, whose outstretched arm grasps—too late—a fleeing nymph, appears in the 1625 marble group Apollo and Daphne by the Roman Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680).

Related

Maps

• World, 1400–1600 a.d.
• Europe, 1400–1600 a.d.

Timelines

• Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 a.d.

Thematic Essays

• The Rediscovery of Classical Antiquity
• The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques

Works of Art by Collection

• Drawings and Prints

Index Terms

Artist

• Raimondi, Marcantonio (Italian, ca. 1480–before 1534)

Material and Technique

• Engraving
• Engraving with Mythological Theme

Subject Matter/Theme

• Apollo
• Deity
• Greek and Roman Deity

Artist Biography

• Raimondi, Marcantonio (Italian, ca. 1480–before 1534)

Technical Glossary

• Engraved

Citation

"Marcantonio Raimondi: Apollo Belvedere (49.97.114)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.97.114 (October 2006)

Apollo Belvedere

Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, Argini (?) ca. 1480–before 1534 Bologna (?))

Date:

ca. 1500–1534

Medium:

Engraving

Dimensions:

11 7/16 x 6 3/8 in. (29.1 x 16.2 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949

Accession Number:

49.97.114

This artwork is not on display

• Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
  Inscription: inscription: SIC. ROMAE. EX. MARMORE. SCVLPTO
  
  Marking: Albertina duplicate stamp on verso, in black ink, bottom left corner.
• Provenance
  Graphische Sammlung Albertina (Vienna)
• Catalogue Raisonné
  Bartsch XIV.249.331;
  
  Delaborde 106 only state
• See also

  Who

  • Marcantonio Raimondi (385)

  What

  • Prints (52,602)
  • Engraving (14,506)

  Where

  • Europe (141,830)
  • Italy (24,368)

  When

  • A.D. 1400-1600 (19,675)

  In the Museum

  • Drawings and Prints (77,853)

  Essays from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

  • The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques
  • The Rediscovery of Classical Antiquity