The Belvedere Apollo

Click to enlarge

Date:
4th century BC / 1st or 2nd century AD

Type:
Statue

Materials:
Bronze, granite

Measurements:

Owner:
Copenhagen Municipality

Donated by:
The Albertina Foundation

Prework:
The model after which the bronze was cast was either a Roman marble copy of the original by Leochares from the latter part of the 4th century BC or an original Roman work from the 1st or 2nd century AD. Musei Vaticani, Cortile del Belvedere, Rome

Address:
The Ørsted Parken near Nørre Voldgade

Recommended litterature:
Ellinor Wesche: Friluftskunsten i København, København 1932, 52-53. Charles Haugbøll: Ørstedsparken, København 1933, 30, 37-38, 49. Monumenter Mindesmærker og Statuer i København Frederiksberg og Gjentofte, København 1944, 30. Legatet 'Albertina'. I anledning af legatets 80 aars dag den 18. november 1959, København 1959, 7-8, 12. Hovedstadens monumenter mindetavler museer. En vejviser, København 1962, 66. Bent Zinglersen: Københavnske monumenter og mindesmærker, København 1974, 221. Anne Højer Petersen: Skulptur i København – 40 udvalgte værker, København 1996, nr. 28. Jens Peter Munk: Bronze & granit. Monumenter i Københavns Kommune, København 2005, 162-63

We have more litterature about this monument - please contact us

The statue's fame dates from the 15th century, when only a small number of ancient statues were known. During the 18th century, thanks to Winckelmann, it became the classical ideal for the fashioning of the male body in sculpture. Thorvaldsen's "Jason" was accordingly strongly influenced by the figure of Apollo.

Apollo is portrayed as a naked youth with a cape over his shoulder and a quiver on his back. The slender god is striding quickly forward. He has presumably had a bow in his left hand and a laurel branch in the right. Other theories are that he has been holding Marsyas' skin or a bag on his chest containing the head of Medusa.

The byname derives from the fact that the wing of the Vatican where the statue is kept has the name of Belvedere.