Apollo with a Bow and Dragon
1771
Medium
etching on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 21.9 x 16.4 cm (8 5/8 x 6 7/16 in.) sheet: 27.9 x 38.4 cm (11 x 15 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1999.100.12
Art Historical Context
Salomon Gessner’s *Apollo with a Bow and Dragon*1771) is a captivating etching on laid paper, the Swiss artist’s mastery of classical mythology during the late Enlightenment era. Measuring a modest plate size of 21.9 x 16.4 cm, this print captures Apollo, the Greek god of music, poetry, and archery, poised with his bow against a formidable—likely alluding to the myth of Apollo slaying the serpent Python at Delphi. Gessner, a poet-painter celebrated for his idyllic landscapes and pastoral themes, infused his works with a Rococo elegance that bridged neoclassical revival and romantic sensibility...
About the Artist
Salomon Gessner · 1730–1788
Salomon Gessner was born in Zurich in 1730 into a family of printers and publishers, an upbringing that placed books, images, and ideas at the center of his world from an early age. Though largely self-taught as a visual artist, he received some instruction during a period in Berlin, where he encountered the German Rococo tradition, and his mature work reflects a deep absorption in the pastoral li...