Apollo and the Centaur
2022 © Maxim Tabachnik
The Triumph of GalateaCouncil of the GodsThe Wedding Banquet of Cupid and PsycheVenus and CapricornBacchus and AriadneCupid and the Three GracesMercury Brings Psyche up to OlympusPerseus and MedusaCupid Pleads with Jupiter for PsycheHercules and the HydraFame and Medusa's VictimsVenus and the DovesHead of a YouthThe Rape of GanymedeVenus Appeals to Ceres and JunoHercules Defeating the Nemean LionThe Fall of PhaetonDionysian ProcessionMercuryPutti with CerberusAbduction of Orithyia by BoreasThe Wedding of Alexander and RoxaneCeiling of the Hall of GalateaVenus Presenting Psyche to CupidThe CharioteerLyra and ApolloCeiling with Putti and GarlandCorridor of the GrotesquesZephyrus Blowing on FloraMarine Scene with NereidsIllusionistic Architecture and StatuePutto with TridentGrotesque Ceiling with Flying FigureThe Family of Darius Before AlexanderVenus and JupiterPutto with ThunderboltsApollo and the Centaur

Apollo and the CentaurBaldassarre Peruzzi

813
This fresco (c. 1511) in the Loggia of Galatea shows Apollo, god of light and music, confronting a centaur that personifies the zodiac sign Sagittarius. Apollo’s calm stance and lyre contrast with the centaur’s tense, twisting body. Inspired by Poliziano’s Stanze per la giostra (Stanzas for the Joust), the scene reflects the humanist revival of classical myth as a vehicle for moral and cosmic order.