Apollo Belvedere
The Apollo Belvedere (also called the Belvedere Apollo, Apollo of the Belvedere, or Pythian Apollo) is a celebrated marble sculpture from classical antiquity.
| Apollo Belvedere | |
|---|---|
Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Artist | After Leochares |
| Year | c. AD 120–140 |
| Type | White marble |
| Dimensions | 224 cm (88 in) |
| Location | Vatican Museums, Vatican City |
| 41°54′23″N 12°27′16″E | |
The work has been dated to mid-way through the 2nd century A.D. and is considered to be a Roman copy of an original bronze statue created between 330 and 320 B.C. by the Greek sculptor Leochares. It was rediscovered in central Italy in the late 15th century during the Italian Renaissance and was placed on semi-public display in the Vatican Palace in 1511, where it remains. It is now in the Cortile del Belvedere of the Pio-Clementine Museum of the Vatican Museums complex.
From the mid-18th century it was considered the greatest ancient sculpture by ardent neoclassicists, and for centuries it epitomized the ideals of aesthetic perfection for Europeans and westernized parts of the world.