Château d'Écouen museum displays works of some of the most celebrated goldsmiths and silversmiths of the Renaissance. One notable example is the statuette of [[Daphne]] by [[Wenzel Jamnitzer]], a German craftsman from [[Nuremberg]], and the goldsmith to the Holy Roman emperors. It was made between 1569 and 1576. It depicts the Greek mythological story of [[Apollo and Daphne]] from the "Metamorphoses" of [[Ovid]], which was a popular subject in the Renaissance. The nymph Daphne is transformed into a laurel tree by her father, to protect her from the pursuit of [[Apollo]]. The statuette is made of gilded silver, with branches made of
Cyrene (mythology) Cyrene (mythology) In Greek mythology, Cyrene () or Kyrene (, "Sovereign Queen"), was a Thessalian princess, and later, the queen and ruler of the North African city of Cyrene. According to the myth, the city was founded and named after her by Apollo. As recorded in Pindar's ninth Pythian ode, Cyrene was the daughter of Hypseus, king of the Lapiths, although some myths state that her father was actually the river-god Peneus and she was a nymph rather than a mortal. According to Apollonius Rhodius, she also had a sister called Larissa. By the god Apollo she bore Aristaeus and