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In 1829, when royal gardener Hermann Sello designed the gardens of Charlottenhof Palace, he ordered a bronze cast of a famous statue in the Villa Medici, depicting the adolescent Greek god Apollo - the
Apollino.
Sello placed the copy at the stairs leading up to a small Greek-style pergola.
Although in the 18th and 19th century, the Apollino was one of the most copied Roman sculptures - it in itself is "only" a copy. The origin of the Apollino is as much debated as its inspiration. It was found in Rome in the 17th century. Most scholars believe, that it represents a copy of the Apollo Lyceus, a type statue of Apollo that started appearing in ancient Greece in the 1st century BCE.
A prominent example of an Apollo Lyceus statue is on display in the Louvre in Paris; the Roman copy, which was the base for the German copy is today displayed in the Uffizi in Florence.
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