Apollo Slaying Python, plate one from The History of Apollo and Daphne

Art Institute of Chicago

Apollo Slaying Python, plate one from The History of Apollo and Daphne

Master of the Die (Italian, active c. 1530-1560)LinkedCulture matchlcp-29670dfc017a

Date
c. 1532
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Culture
Italy
Department
Prints and Drawings
Institution
Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID
80137

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 viewer, apparently lacking a grasp of age-old visual puns, may not have realized that, with his alteration, the visual emphasis merely shifted to this larger and more obvious phallus substitute.

View at Art Institute of Chicago ↗

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.mW9PMqyecwNt052r.IiWKXxN4IfRaZfSrvDU3jlQ9i78mSO8vG-EGZkvHnryECdoRP8HCDyVjgMoMY2INJJ9nNQjqwjUMsltRPZI5bmSPhKBcCyFn0gopxxg1sbXqNspT03JAT3Mlwzee4vfXcGtucs-6vmYILJ7AwV49dhPldrq38efYa8IB_5oWzvPBYSOXYQYaV91AtdqSnQXY7ZIZmK4X4dbPooW6RI57juFnMkPIE27jWgFVoT5hy4iySQXGswzVRRmKQRmjkR4u9JvJH6mEaC4WSo1y7wQqJi_mSee at Art Institute of Chicago QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.TpC2piRk-mefja3M.fo9PlFmQ2BjjDW7ZWdCt63r_O4ikCj_M2lO6T9_wAx8VLrqME0Ko7HIOsJoF8PAj1Kvf6NufYoet4Nhr_bx7iMdNDr6V3BvQTLRgLdNlbRScKQeaNMS09-Rr58K0B95eJcwGexXG6fT4_0gAFPakekptz_P_oq4BRAZYIvhdonpidV-uD9OH2ApGWhcqnO3txtHCtoBKrjW8iYW08wPQFJIVGSFFwbRPq_qS4mePW9x92TkDHq6q-jjEASOJX82j3mk9gxZDfslFgm2lBEt7KQ
Open this page
See at Art Institute of Chicago

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line
The Wallace L. DeWolf and Joseph Brooks Fair Collections

Linked open data

Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.

Object type
AAT300041273

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.