Apollo and Diana

Jacopo de' Barbari

ca. 1503–5 · Engraving · Drawings and Prints

In this print Apollo is shown in his role as a solar deity, standing on top of a celestial sphere firing arrows that signify the rays of the sun. The image shows the moment when night, symbolized by Apollo's sister Diana, goddess of the moon, gives way to day. Devoted to the hunt, the chaste Diana (the Greek Artemis) is accompanied by a deer. It was through engravings like this, with its idealized nude figures, that Barbari influenced artists throughout Europe, including the German Albrecht Dürer.

Artist

Jacopo de' Barbari

Date

ca. 1503–5

Medium

Engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1920