Apollo and DaphneBonaccorsi Pietro, Rietti Domenico

This wall fresco (1545–46) shows Apollo reaching toward the fleeing nymph Daphne, with Cupid resting at the left. The scene illustrates the myth in which Daphne asks to be saved from Apollo and is changed into a laurel tree. Her raised, branching arms and sprouting leaves articulate chastity resisting pursuit, turning the story into a moral image of virtue overcoming desire.