Apollo Slaying Python, plate one from The History of Apollo and Daphne
c. 1532
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image plate: 21.8 × 17.6 cm (8 5/8 × 6 15/16 in.); Text plate: 2.6 × 17.6 cm (1 1/16 × 6 15/16 in.); Sheet: 24 × 17.6 cm (9 1/2 × 6 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
80137
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The alteration to this impression is not initially evident, but closer inspection reveals that this predominantly nude Apollo is missing his genitalia. A viewer deliberately scraped away the ink at the god’s crotch in a campaign of extremely localized censorship. Given how modestly Apollo was originally endowed, this change does not significantly alter the image overall. Rather, the god’s sizable arrow quiver dangles more provocatively between his legs than his own penis ever did. The objecting ...
About the Artist
Master of the Die · 1525–1560
**Master of the Die** (fl. 1525–1560) was an anonymous Italian engraver and printmaker active primarily in Rome during the mid-16th century. Named for the distinctive small die he used to sign his prints—a tiny emblematic mark that became his moniker—this elusive artist remains unidentified despite scholarly proposals linking him to figures like Benedetto Verino, Giovanni Francesco Zabello, Tommas...