sunbeam: All Bernini's sculptures are breath taking but this for me is the most gorgeous .
Comment or review
sunbeam: 'Bernini took the 'stat' -the latin for their usual condition of standing- out of statues. His figures break free from the gravity pull of the pedestal to run , twist,whirl,pant,scream,bark or arch themselves in spasms of intense sensation....Bernini could make marble do things it had never done before.'
(from Simon Schama's Power of Art)
What do you know about this artist or work of art that others may not?
sunbeam: The sculpture was originally installed with it's back to the entrance so at first the visitor could only see the back of Apollo's cloak. As the visitor moved around the story would be told and reveal itself in the same way that Apollo was surprised by the transformation in the myth (ie that Daphne escaped by turning herself into a tree)
Baldinucci (Bernini's contemporary) wrote 'such acclaim arose that all Rome rushed to view it as though it were a miracle'
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