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Paris - Louvre: Galerie d’Apollon - Apollon vainqueur du serpent Python2_8193

Apollon vainqueur du serpent Python (Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python), marouflaged onto the ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon in the Denon Wing, by French painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), dates to 1850–1851.

 

Executed in oil on canvas, this Romantic composition captures Apollo’s triumph over the serpent Python, a foundational myth celebrating the god’s dominion over the arts and the sun. Commissioned in 1850 during the reign of Louis-Philippe, at 8 by 7.5 meters, it was intended as the centerpiece of the gallery, complementing the grand 17th-century stuccowork of Charles Le Brun’s era, and reflecting the enduring cultural prestige of the French monarchy and nation.

 

The Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), located on the first floor of the Denon Wing of the Louvre, was commissioned by Louis XIV after a 1661 fire destroyed the Petite Galerie. Originally designed by Louis Le Vau and decorated by Charles Le Brun, it was conceived as a royal gallery to glorify the Sun King, symbolized by Apollo. Though Louis XIV shifted his court to Versailles, whose Hall of Mirrors was influenced by the gallery, the decoration was completed two centuries later in 1850 under Félix Duban with Eugène Delacroix adding Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python for the central ceiling, a landmark of French Romanticism. Restored and reopened in the early 2000s, the gallery now houses the French Crown Jewels and other major decorative art treasures.

 

The Louvre is the world’s most visited museum and one of its largest, housing over 35,000 works of art from prehistory to the 19th century. Originally built as a fortress under Philippe Auguste in the late 12th century, it was transformed into a royal palace and later into a public museum during the French Revolution in 1793. Its collections span eight departments, including Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman art, Islamic art, sculpture, decorative arts, paintings, prints, and drawings. The museum is organized across three wings—Denon, Sully, and Richelieu—surrounding the Cour Napoléon. The modern glass Pyramid entrance, designed by architect I. M. Pei and inaugurated in 1989, unifies the historic palace complex while serving as a symbol of the museum’s global identity.

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Uploaded on June 6, 2025
Taken on April 13, 2025