Apollo

The engraving with a rendition of the graceful figure of the god Apollo reproduces Raphael’s missing study to The School of Athens - a famous fresco from the Vatican hall called Stanza della Segnatura, the decoration of which Raphael worked on between 1508 and 1511. His inspiration for the god’s figure was the legendary classical cameo from the Medici collections, today in the property of Museo Archeologico in Naples. Apollo, the patron of poetry and music and the leader of the Muses, holds a lyre in his left hand. The serpent crawling on the tree trunk bottom left is a reminder of Apollo’s victory over the giant snake Python.