Bernini’s sculpture showing Apollo pursuing Daphne as she transforms into a laurel tree is Apollo and Daphne.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini carved the marble group between 1622 and 1625 for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. It illustrates the climax of a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Daphne escapes Apollo’s pursuit by asking her father, the river god Peneus, to change her into a tree. Bernini captures the transformation in the spreading roots, bark, branches, and leaves.
The sculpture is celebrated for its flowing movement and technical detail. Apollo’s reaching body contrasts with Daphne’s rapidly changing form, creating a scene that appears to continue around the viewer.
Apollo and Daphne remains in Rome’s Galleria Borghese. It is sometimes mistaken for Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina, but that separate group depicts Pluto and Proserpina.