Apoll schindet Marsyas,

um 1633

Material / Technology / Carrier

Leinwand

Dimensions of the object

223,3 x 169,5 cm

Displayed

AP OG Saal X

Department

Italienische Malerei

Genre

Malerei

Inventory number

513

Acquisition

Aus der Kurfürstlichen Galerie

Stock

Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek München

Citation

Guido Reni, Apoll schindet Marsyas, um 1633, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek München, URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artwork/wq4jXdYLWo (Last updated on 24.08.2023)

In the music contest between Apollo and the satyr Marsyas, as related by Ovid, the Muses declared the god of the arts the winner. The satyr’s fate therefore lay in the hands of Apollo, who hung him from a tree and skinned him alive. In the perfection of a statue from antiquity Reni created a strong contrast between the god and the appearance of the tormented creature of nature. As such, he also devised this gruesome scene as a plea that art should not be bound to the image of untamed nature but to the ideals of classical beauty.