Apollo Belvedere

Research Status: Moderate Last Updated: 2026-05-31 Diary Coverage: Carnet 005 (June 1873)

Overview

The Apollo Belvedere is a celebrated marble sculpture in the Vatican Museums (Cortile del Belvedere, Pio-Clementine Museum, Rome). The work depicts the Greek god Apollo as a standing archer who has just released an arrow. The sculpture stands 224 cm tall and is a Roman copy (dated to the 2nd century AD) of an original Greek bronze (c. 330–320 BC) attributed to the sculptor Leochares.

Rediscovered in central Italy in the late 15th century and placed in the Vatican from 1511, the Apollo Belvedere became the canonical ideal of male beauty during the neoclassical era, famously championed by art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann in 1755 as the supreme example of Greek aesthetic perfection. (Source: Wikipedia, "Apollo Belvedere"; Vatican Museums website.)

Relevance to Marie

In June 1873, Marie was studying and copying classical works, including the Apollo Belvedere. She notes its resemblance to the Duke of Hamilton: "L'Apollon du Belvédère que je vais copier a un peu de ressemblance avec le duc, l'expression surtout" — "The Apollo Belvedere that I am about to copy has some resemblance to the duke, especially the expression." She observes the same way of holding the head and the nose as alike.

Diary References

• June 8, 1873 (005.0209): Marie plans to copy the Apollo Belvedere; compares it to Hamilton's appearance.