Apollo and Daphne,

The god Apollo fell in love with the nymph Daphne but she fled from him. Just as he stretched out his hand to reach her, she turned into a laurel bush according to the writings of the Roman poet Ovid. Poussin’s painting captures this moment: with his delicate application of paint and the combination of reddish, brownish and green shades the painter picks up on the works of the Venetians. The literary, mythological subject is targeted at the educated art collector in Rome, where the artist spent most of his life.