Ernesto Gazzeri, After Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)

Gianlorenzo Bernini's Apollo and Daphne of 1622-25, housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, is widely admired as one of the great masterpieces that ushered in the Baroque period in sculpture. It depicts the moment Daphne turns into a tree in a clever play on the sculptural medium. 

For the last and most ambitious of Bernini’s iconic mythological groups, the artist naturally found his inspiration in classical antiquity, turning to the celebrated Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican. The skill of Bernini’s transformation of the pose is astounding, endowing his model with greater energy and dynamism, whilst capturing the god’s shock and breathlessness at the end of the chase.

Of Florentine origin, the sculptor Ernesto Gazzeri was primarily active in Rome, where he executed monuments, portraiture, as well as genre sculpture. He travelled widely, leaving works in England, France, the USA and Asia.