Apollo and Hyacinthus

This group, commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici, was sculpted in poor quality marble supplied to Cellini by Baccio Bandinelli, who wanted to put his rival in a bad light. The work, not completely finished, remained in the artist’s workshop and after his death was confiscated and included amongst the belongings of Francesco I de’ Medici.The two youths are portrayed before the fatal contest. Apollo still holds the discus that will strike the beloved Hyacinthus: the god made a flower, the hyacinth, from his spilled blood.