How to Read Paintings: Apollo Pursuing Daphne by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
A vivid and lively painting that captures an ill-fated love story
This image is full of light and motion. A young man dashes up a hillside, pointing in the direction of a woman who appears to have tree leaves sprouting from her fingertips. It is a vivid image, not least because of the bold sense of movement that fills the scene.
I’ve looked at this painting many times, and for so long wondered how the artist managed to give it such energy. For the painting never seems to stay still. How can it be that Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne never seems to quite end?
One way of understanding how Tiepolo managed to conjure the movement is to notice how the painting is composed. Its structure relies on a distinct cross-shape that forms an X over the entire picture. Tiepolo built the image on a series of diagonal lines that constantly lead the viewer’s eye in different directions, linking the different elements of the picture into one overall X-shaped motif.
The painting, made around 1760, is part of the Rococo tradition of Western art. Like many…
