Before its installation in the "Cortile delle Statue" of the Belvedere palace in the Vatican, the "Apollo"—which seems to have been discovered in 1489 in the present territory of Anzio (at that time territory of Nettuno), or perhaps at Grottaferrata where Giuliano della Rovere was abbot "in commendam"—apparently received very little notice from artists. It was, however, sketched twice during the last decade of the 15th century in the book of drawings by a pupil of Domenico Ghirlandaio, now at the Escorial. Though it has always been known to have belonged to Giuliano della Rovere before he became pope, as Julius II, its placement has been confused until as recently as 1986: Cardinal della Rovere, who held the "titulus" of San Pietro in Vincoli, stayed away from Rome for the decade during Alexander VI's papacy (1494–1503); in the interim, the "Apollo" stood in his garden at SS. Apostoli, Deborah Brown has shown, and not at his titular church, as had been assumed.