Apollo Belvedere
Maker
Fonderia Chiurazzi
(Italian, founded 1870)
Dateearly 20th century
MediumBronze
Dimensions83 x 57 x 36 1/2 in. (210.8 x 144.8 x 92.7 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN5143
Discovered in the late 15th century and by 1511 placed in the newly designed Belvedere gardens at the Vatican, this statue of the Greco-Roman god Apollo was, and still is, among the most admired works of ancient sculpture. The 18th-century German art historian and founder of modern archeology Johann Joachim Winckelmann famously claimed that it was “the highest ideal of art among all the works of antiquity to have survived destruction.” Apollo would likely have held a bow in his left hand, attesting to his guise as a hunter, and in his right hand, an arrow or wreath.
On View
On view
