DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61668#0091
EARLY PAINTED WORK 63
figures are constructed with a grace and daintiness in
marked contrast to his usual robust, half savage type.
In both there is something which suggests the idyllic
sentiment of youth, to which the interest in physical
strength is subordinate. It is true that in the Apollo
his passion for seizing swift and transitory movement is
revealed, but the picture is conceived in a spirit as
romantic as a mediaeval poem. Later he would have
seized the opportunity offered by the theme to represent
Apollo as a nude athlete, and have laid stress on the
action of the limbs and the play of muscle. Instead he
is clad in the daintiest of costumes, painted with the
love of Carpaccio for beautiful clothes, and the limbs
beneath have no exaggerated development. There is
more poetry than attempt at realism in the way the
large bay-branches sprout from the fingers of Daphne,
forming a sort of grove. Behind them stretches the
Arno Valley, through which the river winds like a
snake, and this characteristic landscape is treated with
a mixture of realism and poetry which never varies
in his paintings of scenery.
The small panel is painted with the delicacy of a
miniature. The colour is rich and dark, with warm
crimsons and deep-toned greens, and has that gem-like
glow and depth which must have been imitated from
jewels. At whatever date it was painted Antonio had
already little to learn in anatomy. The rapid move-
ment of Apollo as he seizes the nymph is presented
with his usual science, and the action is full of life and
energy. It is probable, from its classic character, that
figures are constructed with a grace and daintiness in
marked contrast to his usual robust, half savage type.
In both there is something which suggests the idyllic
sentiment of youth, to which the interest in physical
strength is subordinate. It is true that in the Apollo
his passion for seizing swift and transitory movement is
revealed, but the picture is conceived in a spirit as
romantic as a mediaeval poem. Later he would have
seized the opportunity offered by the theme to represent
Apollo as a nude athlete, and have laid stress on the
action of the limbs and the play of muscle. Instead he
is clad in the daintiest of costumes, painted with the
love of Carpaccio for beautiful clothes, and the limbs
beneath have no exaggerated development. There is
more poetry than attempt at realism in the way the
large bay-branches sprout from the fingers of Daphne,
forming a sort of grove. Behind them stretches the
Arno Valley, through which the river winds like a
snake, and this characteristic landscape is treated with
a mixture of realism and poetry which never varies
in his paintings of scenery.
The small panel is painted with the delicacy of a
miniature. The colour is rich and dark, with warm
crimsons and deep-toned greens, and has that gem-like
glow and depth which must have been imitated from
jewels. At whatever date it was painted Antonio had
already little to learn in anatomy. The rapid move-
ment of Apollo as he seizes the nymph is presented
with his usual science, and the action is full of life and
energy. It is probable, from its classic character, that