Fig. 11.—Apollo Belvedere. Vatican.
Fig. 12.—Head of Apollo Belvedere.
This remark leads us to contemplate the different statues of the god. Apollo constantly bears a very youthful appearance, and is always beardless. His figure is strong and handsome, his head covered with fair clustering locks, and his face expressive of majesty, but marked withal by a cheerful serenity. Such is the original and fundamental type, which was usually followed in the representation of the god. It was principally developed by Scopas and Praxiteles, who belonged to the later Attic school, which flourished from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the reign of Alexander the Great. The principal creation of Scopas was a marble statue, representing the god as a Pythian Citharœdus with the lyre in his hand, clothed in a long robe reaching to the feet.
This invaluable work was procured by Augustus for the temple he erected to Apollo on the Palatine. Praxiteles, a younger contemporary of Scopas, acquired considerable renown by his bronze figure of a youthful Apollo pursuing a lizard (Apollo Sauroctonus).
In existing art monuments sometimes the conception of a warlike, vengeful deity obtains, in which case the god is represented as nude, or nearly so, and armed with quiver and bow. At other times he wears a mild and benevolent aspect; he is then distinguished by his lute, and completely enveloped in a chlamys. Of the former kind is the most beautiful and celebrated of all his existing statues, the Apollo Belvedere, which was discovered in 1503, near Nettuno, the ancient Antium, and is now in the Vatican. The proud self-consciousness of a conquering deity is inimitably expressed in his whole attitude. He stands with his right hand and leg against the trunk of a tree, his left arm outstretched, with the ægis, probably as a symbol of fear and terror, in his hand. The serpent creeping up the tree is a symbol of the powers of darkness vanquished by the god (Fig. 11). It may also be taken as the symbol of life and healing, like the serpent of Asclepius (see p. [96]). We have also given a larger engraving of the head of the Belvedere Apollo, in order to afford a clearer idea of its wondrous beauty (Fig. 12).
The so-called Apollino, of the Florence gallery, a youthful figure resting after battle, is a work of scarcely less beauty. The shape of the body, which is entirely nude, is wonderfully soft and delicate. With his left arm the god leans upon a tree; in his left hand he negligently holds the bow, whilst his right hand is raised to his head in a meditative fashion. The Farnese Apollo of the Naples Museum possesses an equally graceful form. The god is here represented as a musician; in his left hand he holds the lyre, whilst his right glides over the strings. The animated expression of his face, indicating his entire devotion to his art, is exquisitely beautiful. The goose at his feet, which was regarded even by the ancients as a music-loving bird, appears to drink in with rapture the heavenly tones.
In those works which represent the god as a Pythian lute-player in a long Ionian garment, we perceive an almost feminine figure and a visionary expression of face. The most important works of this kind are the Apollo Citharœdus of the Munich collection (Fig. 13), formerly called the Muse of Barberini, which is marked by a somewhat quieter attitude; and the so-called Apollo Musagetes of the Vatican collection, which is characterised by a lively dancing movement of the figure, and is generally regarded as an imitation of the masterpiece of Scopas already mentioned. A pure and heavenly inspiration seems to pervade the features of the laurel-crowned god; his mighty lyre, to the tones of which he appears to be singing, is suspended from a band across the chest, and is aptly adorned with the portrait of Marsyas, his vanquished rival.
