Apollo and Daphne (c. 1700 CE)

Apollo and Daphne, dated to circa 1700, is a terracotta sculpture by the Italian artist Massimiliano Soldani (1656–1740). It resides in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection. Soldani captures the dramatic instant when the nymph Daphne transforms into a laurel tree to escape the pursuing god Apollo, offering viewers an immediate insight into Baroque art’s obsession with movement, metamorphosis, and fleeting moments.

The sculpture was created around 1700 by Massimiliano Soldani, a Florentine master known for his terracotta bozzetti—small-scale models often used as preparatory studies for bronze casts or decorative works. Soldani drew direct inspiration from Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s monumental marble group Apollo and Daphne (1622–1625), located in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Bernini’s version revolutionized sculpture by depicting the precise moment of Daphne’s transformation, with her fingers sprouting leaves and toes rooting into the earth as Apollo reaches for her. Soldani reinterprets this in terracotta, a medium prized in 17th- and early 18th-century Italy for its tactile warmth and suitability for private collections. This work reflects the era’s workshop practices, where artists like Soldani translated grand Baroque marbles into intimate, portable formats, bridging high art with connoisseurship amid Italy’s cultural flourishing under Medici patronage.

One compelling anecdote lies in the sculpture’s embodiment of Baroque theatricality: it freezes the myth’s climactic “pregnant moment,” where Daphne’s body is half-human, half-tree, evoking the illusion of imminent action in unyielding clay. Soldani’s terracottas, including this piece, were likely handled by collectors who prized their sketch-like vitality, sometimes even applying wax or paint to mimic marble finishes. The work also ties into broader tales of artistic rivalry and emulation—Bernini’s original stunned viewers in 1625 for its lifelike drama, inspiring countless copies, with Soldani’s version serving as a bridge between Bernini’s Roman innovation and Florence’s more refined, serial production of such models for export and elite cabinets of curiosities.

Rooted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book 1), the myth tells of Apollo, god of the sun, music, and poetry, who pursues the chaste nymph Daphne after Cupid’s arrow curses him with unrequited love. Desperate, Daphne beseeches her father, the river god Peneus, for aid; as Apollo’s hand nears, she metamorphoses into a laurel tree, her arms becoming branches and legs roots. Soldani’s depiction symbolizes pursuit versus resistance, the fusion of human and natural realms, and Apollo’s enduring link to the laurel as an emblem of poetic victory and triumph—seen later in crowns for emperors and artists. In Baroque context, it exemplifies Italian sculptors’ drive for novel, kinetic compositions that convey emotion, illusion of life, and transformation, influencing European art from opera sets to garden fountains. Daphne’s agency underscores themes of chastity and divine intervention, resonating in a Catholic culture that valued moral allegory amid sensual drama.

Crafted from terracotta—a fired clay mixture valued for its earthy realism and moldability—the sculpture stands 55.5 cm (21 7/8 in.) tall, 34.2 cm (13 7/16 in.) wide, and 21.9 cm (8 5/8 in.) deep, making it an ideal tabletop object for Renaissance and Baroque collectors. Soldani’s technique involves rough, expressive modeling to suggest unfinished energy, with incised details for Daphne’s emerging bark, leaves, and flowing hair, contrasted against Apollo’s smooth, muscular anatomy. The reddish-brown patina enhances its organic feel, while the compact scale allows intricate carving of anatomical tension and drapery folds, showcasing terracotta’s versatility over marble’s rigidity.

The sculpture’s journey began in a private collection in Newport, Rhode Island, until 1959, when it entered the ownership of Mrs. Elizabeth Parke Firestone (1897–1990), a prominent collector of decorative arts. Upon her death, it was held in trust by her estate from 1959 to 1990. In 1991, the estate sold it at Christie’s New York (March 23, lot 840) to London dealer Daniel Katz Ltd., who then acquired it for the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1992. This American trajectory highlights how 18th-century European masterpieces migrated to U.S. institutions via wealthy private patrons.