This is one of a set of ten panels by the Brescian fresco painter Lattanzio Gambara, eight of which in the Royal Collection. The fresco cycle depicts scenes from Ovid's ‘Metamorphoses’, and was painted for the Palazzo Pedrocca-Scaglia in Brescia. The Palace was destroyed in 1853 and shortly before this date the frescoes were removed from the walls and transferred to canvas. In 1856 they were purchased by Ludwig Gruner for Prince Albert as examples of the fresco painting technique for artists working on the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament. The subject of this panel is Apollo. He is seated facing right in contraposto, a lyre in his right hand, against an embrasure receding to the right framing blue sky. Beneath him is a white drapery with blue-grey shadows. His pose resembles Michelangelo’s ‘ignudi’ on the Sistine Ceiling, especially the one to the left above ‘Joel’. In 1807 Nicoli Cristiani penned a description of the sala of the Pedrocca Palace with the frescoes in situ. Although it is difficult to reconstruct the appearance of the room precisely, it suggests that this panel was over one of the six doors.