Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"

Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"

Master of the Die

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print, the third in the series, depicts Apollo's vain pursuit. The verses at the bottom of the engraving describe, in a paraphrase of Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.527-30), how the wind further kindled Apollo's longing by lifting Daphne's garments to reveal her lovely limbs. In the background, Apollo finally grasps his love, but too late, for her father has answered her plea and transformed her into a laurel. Apollo vowed that the tree would henceforth adorn his lyre and provide a crown for victors. As Apollo is the god of poetry-a role alluded to by the vignette of Parnassus in the first print-the laurel wreath came to be associated with the victorious poet.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"Apollo chasing Daphne who throws her arms up, in the background at right shows the moment she turns in a laurel, from "Story of Apollo and Daphne"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.