Delacroix received a commission for the Galerie d’Apollon as part of the renovation of the museum rooms, which began when the law of 2 December 1848 officially allocated 2 million francs to restore the historical rooms in the Palais du Louvre. He was then asked to complete the decor left unfinished by Louis XIV’s leading official painter, Charles Le Brun (1619-1690).
To remain consistent with the initial composition, he decided to depict Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, a symbol of the fight between good and evil, of light against darkness, of the forces of the spirit against obscurantism.
