a representation of Apollo, generally ranked as the masterpiece of ancient statuary. It was so called from having been placed in the Belvedere of the Vatican by Pope Julius II., where it remained till 1797, when Rome was taken and plundered by the French. It was again restored after the peace of 1815.

This celebrated statue was found in the ruins of ancient Antium, now Capo d'Anza, about the end of the fifteenth century. The artist and the epoch of its execution are unknown. It has been supposed to agree with the description of Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 4, 10, and has been attributed by some to Calamis, by others to Phyliscus, and by others again to Praxiteles. The first was the opinion of Visconti (see Feuerbach's learned work, Der Vaticanische Apollo, Nuremb. 1833, 8vo). But according to the most probable opinion, this statue is sculptured in the Italian marble of Luni, and was executed about the time of Nero. See Tiersch, Epoehen, &c. The hands and right arm which were wanting in the original, were restored by Angelo da Montorsoli, a pupil of Michael Angelo. This wonderful work of art represents the highest ideal of manly beauty. "The lord of the unerring bow" has just discharged his arrow at the serpent Python. His cloak, his sole covering, lightly fastened round his neck, is flung over his left shoulder, and hangs gracefully from his outstretched arm, which grasps the still quivering bow. His face expresses the calm and proud triumph of a god, who needs but the putting forth of his hand to ensure him victory. "As the skilful artist," says Winckelmann, "wished to personify the most beautiful of the gods, he expressed only the anger in the nose—this organ, according to the old poets, being its appropriate seat—and the contempt on the lips. The latter emotion is manifested by the elevation of the lower lip, by which the chin is raised at the same time; the former is visible in the dilated nostrils." (Hist. of Ane. Art among the Greeks, p. 159, English translation. Lond. 1850.) The open right hand rests on the stump of a tree, around which winds a serpent, at once emblematic of the healing power of the god, and suggestive of the object of his victory.