The Romans saw Apollo as the god of light who every day crossed the heavens in his resplendent chariot. It is that chariot that can just be glimpsed in the print made by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio after Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540). Centuries later, the same god of light, Apollo, achieved new popularity in the form of the Sun King, the French Louis XIV (1638-1715), and was according a not inconsiderable place in the decorations embellishing the Palace of Versailles. In this engraving we see Apollo as a naked youth, a model of the beauty of the male body. In this, Apollo was the male counterpart to the goddess of beauty, Venus. Laurel s crown Apollo’s splendid head of hair. There were laurel bushes growing on Parnassus, the residence of the Muses, and the wreath betokens Apollo’s link to art and to the muses who, in the mythological universe figure as sources of inspiration for the arts. It is in this role Apollo is best known. This also applies in the case of Thorvaldsen, who only portrayed Apollo as the god of light in one single drawing.
