Apollo and DaphnePerino del Vaga; Domenico Rietti

From the Storie di Apollo cycle (1545–46), this fresco shows Daphne collapsing as Apollo reaches toward her, while a winged Cupid aims his bow between them. Daphne’s drapery whips forward, emphasizing her desperate flight. Her uplifted arms begin to sprout laurel, marking the instant of metamorphosis that transforms pursuit into the origin myth of Apollo’s sacred tree.