Apollo European tapestry is part of the Triumph of Apollo series, six individual tapestries depicting the oracular god, Apollo. In this tapestry, designed by Barend Van Orley in the eighteenth century, Apollo is depicted resting on Heiicon with his muses. The archer-god of the healing, light and truth, Apollo was also the leader of the muses. He is the director of their choir and was also a god of music and poetry, which is represented here by the muses with their instruments, which includes the lyre. Van Orley was a very prolific painter from Brussels, who was known for his many works which helped define the Flemish Northern Renaissance style of painting.
