Ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon

Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python

Eugène Delacroix

Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’, identified himself with Apollo, the god of the arts and the sun. In 1663, to reflect his dazzling image, the king entrusted the decoration of the Galerie d’Apollon to his court painter, Charles Le Brun. The latter oversaw an army of artists and instructed them to elaborate on the theme of the sun. The top of the vaulted ceiling is painted with allegories of the hours from dawn to dusk, with the sun at its zenith in the centre. Lower down, the months are modelled in stucco alongside paintings of the four seasons. Twelve winged figures representing the hours are depicted flying in the sky and the days of the week are symbolised by animals; Thursday, for example, the day of Jupiter, is represented by one of the god’s attributes, the eagle. The overall decorative scheme was both artistically and politically symbolic: like Apollo, the Sun King was the master of the universe and a great patron of artists.