Apollo
Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini
1718
In 1704 a raging fire reduced the entire interior of the Mauritshuis to ashes. The Italian painter Pellegrini was asked to make the new decorations for the Golden Room. The bright colours and baroque elegance of his work are typical Venetian and unique in the Netherlands.
Pellegrini painted various canvases that are set into the wood panelling. The ceiling paintings portray how Aurora dispels the Night and is followed by Apollo, the Sun. The two overmantel pieces represent The Republic and Venus and Vulcan. Pellegrini decorated the walls with four large grisailles depicting personifications of the Four Elements – earth, air, fire and water.
oil on canvas
191.8 x 261.8 cm.
Painted during the restoration of the Mauritshuis after the fire of 1704 and completed in 1718