Apollo and Daphne (Bernini)

Apollo and Daphne is a life-sized marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, carved between 1622 and 1625 and held today in the Borghese Museum in Rome. It captures the climactic instant of the myth in which the nymph Daphne, fleeing the god Apollo's pursuit, is transformed into a laurel tree even as he reaches to catch her, her fingers and hair already sprouting leaves and bark. Regarded as arguably the most influential sculptural treatment of the story ever made, it is celebrated for carving so fine, in the tree's twigs and leaves, that it has astonished viewers since it was first unveiled, and it is generally credited with inaugurating the Baroque style in sculpture.