''Apollo and Daphne'' is a c.1470–1480 oil on panel painting, attributed to

Piero del Pollaiuolo Piero del Pollaiuolo ( , , ; also spelled Pollaiolo; in Florence – 1496 in Rome), also known as Piero Benci, was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. His brother was the artist Antonio del Pollaiuolo and the two frequently worked ...

and/or his brother

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

). William Coningham acquired it in Rome in 1845 and in 1876

Wynne Ellis Wynne Ellis (also Wynn Ellis) (1790–1875) was a wealthy British haberdasher, politician and art collector. Biography Ellis, son of Thomas Ellis, by Elizabeth Ordway of Barkway, Hertfordshire, was born at Oundle, Northamptonshire, in July 1790, ...

left it to the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, where it still hangs. It shows Daphne's transformation into a laurel tree to escape Apollo in Ovid's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

''. Its choice of wood as a support and its small dimensions mean that it was long mistaken as a fragment of a decorative

cassone A cassone (plural ''cassoni'') or marriage chest is a rich and showy Italian type of chest, which may be inlaid or carved, prepared with gesso ground then painted and gilded. ''Pastiglia'' was decoration in low relief carved or moulded in gesso ...

. Like '' The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian'' it was also long attributed to Antonio but is now usually attributed to Piero. The background vegetation was previously brighter but is now irreversibly oxidized.Louise Govier, ''The National Gallery, guida per i visitatori'', Louise Rice, London 2009.

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* {{15C-painting-stub Paintings by Piero del Pollaiuolo Collections of the National Gallery, London 1470s paintings Paintings of Apollo Paintings based on Metamorphoses Paintings by Antonio del Pollaiuolo

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