Jean-Antoine Houdon found in Apollo Belvedere (Pio Clementino Museum, Vatican City), a Roman copy of an original bronze statue by Leochares (330–320 BCE), a direct inspiration for his depiction of the god Apollo.

The work followed a commission from the banker and collector Jean Girardot de Marigny in 1782 for a bronze version of Diana for his garden in Paris. Apollo, her natural pair and commissioned shortly afterwards by Marigny, was noted by Houdon in the list of works made in 1873, the format being specified as grandeur nature. The work was only cast in bronze in 1788, in the artist’s workshop.

Like Diana, her brother Apollo is depicted naked and in motion, with his weight on the tip of his right foot, as if floating, such is the lightness with which Houdon rendered the figure’s idealised body, which is practically devoid of attributes, the sole exception being the lyre. The god of the sun and music is also featured with his hair blown by the wind, which reinforces the sense of the figure being in motion.