Carved when Bernini was only 24-years old, the Apollo and Daphne depicts the moment when Apollo, God of wisdom, finally catches the object of his desire, the nymph Daphne. But instead of feeling flesh and warmth, he finds cold bark as the nymph was magically transformed into a tree to protect her from his advances. In his sculpture, Bernini, instead, magically turns stone into flesh, wood, bark, twigs, and leaves. Buona visione!