Daphne

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The sculpture group of Daphne (by Guillaume I Coustou) and Apollo (by Nicolas Coustou) illustrates a passage from Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which the nymph Daphne is chased by the sun god and transformed into a laurel tree in order to escape him. Each statue was placed in the center of one of the ornamental ponds in the park at Marly, around 1713-14. The group was installed in a grove in the Tuileries Gardens from 1798 to 1940. The accompanying sculpture depicting Apollo can be downloaded here. The group of Apollo by Nicolas Coustou and Daphne by Guillaume I Coustou illustrates a passage from Ovid's Metamorphoses (a work written in the early 1st century, recounting the transformations of gods and mortals into animals or plants). For having mocked Cupid, Apollo was struck by a golden arrow, and fell desperately in love with Daphne, Cupid then fired an arrow of lead at the nymph, so that she would spurn his love. The scorned sun god set off in pursuit of Daphne, who fled as fast as she could. Just as he caught up with her, she was transformed into a laurel tree. The laurel (Daphne, in Greek) then became Apollo's favorite tree.