AFTER THE ANTIQUE, POSSIBLY CAST BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE, CIRCA 1880

The celebrated figure of Apollo is first recorded in 1509, when Pope Julius II had it moved to the Vatican from the garden of his titular church, San Pietro in Vincoli. It was later moved to the Belvedere, where it remained until being ceded to the French and taken to Paris in 1798. The equally famous figure of Diane Chasseresse is first recorded at Fontainebleau in 1586. It was later moved to the Salle des Antiques at the Louvre, transferred under Louis XIV to the Grand Galerie at Versailles, then moved back to Paris in 1798. The idea that the two statues are related was most discussed during the brief period from 1802 to 1815, when they were on display together in the Musée Napoléon (now the Louvre). However, as early as the mid-17th century scholars have frequently paired the statues, and it has been suggested often that they are both early Hadrianic copies of 4th century bronze originals thought to be the work of Leochares.