Two figures depicting the Roman twin gods Apollo and Diana against a gold background — G F Watts, *Apollo and Diana*, 1854 - 55, Fresco
Watts Gallery Trust

This fresco, Apollo and Diana, shows the ancient Roman twin gods of the sun and the moon. They stood at the centre of G F Watts’s decorative scheme known as The Elements, which was displayed at 7 Carlton House Terrace. He painted these frescos in 1854-5 for Virginia Somers and her husband Charles, 3rd Earl Somers.
Watts used Virginia as the model for Diana and her nephew, Arthur Prinsep, for Apollo. He included the gods’ individual symbols, such as Diana’s bow and arrows, which signalled her status as the goddess of the hunt. Apollo holds a lyre or harp and stomps on the head of Python, a giant snake he fought and defeated. They represent the balance of cosmic forces and of the heavens. The rest of the frescoes in The Elements cycle presented more earthy representations of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The frescoes were removed from 7 Carlton House Terrace in the twentieth century.