After the renovation of the Louvre’s Gallery of Apollo, directed by the architect Felix Duban, one tympanum and two ceiling compartments still needed to be completed. In 1849, Duban commissioned Joseph-Benoît Guichard, Charles-Louis Müller and Eugene Delacroix to carry out the work. Delacroix was entrusted with the central part of the vault. Initially tempted by the theme of the Nymphs, Delacroix finally chose a subject taken from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”, “Apollo conquering the serpent Python”. The size of the canvas delayed the execution because he could not unfold it entirely. Completely exhausted by this daunting task, Delacroix finished his work in August 1851.