Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 18

Unknown
Mythological Subject, Italy XVII Century, The Tale of Apollo and Marsyas

1600s

About the Item

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the seventeenth century. The large canvas derives from an engraving of 1562 by the Venetian Giulio Sanuto, who faithfully reproduced the homonymous work by Bronzino (1503-1572), currently preserved in the Hermitage; compared to the original, the engraving added the group of Muses and modified the landscape background by introducing views of the villages. The work is divided into four scenes, which must be read from right to left. The first scene depicts the musical contest between Apollo and the Silenus Marsyas, who played the flute so well that he was considered superior to the same god; the two contenders are performing, the god with the lyre and the silenus with the flute even upside down (to increase the difficulty of the undertaking), in front of King Midas and the goddess Minerva, recognizable by her attributes, the helmet, the spear and the shield. In the second scene Apollo is intent on skinning Marsyas, to punish him for having won the musical contest; lean on the ground next to him, his cloak and lyre. In the third scene, it is King Midas who is punished by the god for having preferred Marsyas to him: Apollo is putting the donkey's ears on Midas, while Minerva is watching. Finally, the fourth scene, in the foreground on the left, is characterized by a particular figure, identified in the faithful servant and barber of the king: since Midas had ordered him to keep the secret on his donkey ears, not being able to let off steam otherwise, he dug a hole in the ground and yelled into there his secret; in that place, however, legend has it that a bush of reeds grew that with the wind whispered "King midas has donkey ears", thus revealing the dreaded secret. The painting has been previously restored and relined, but currently needs any further color recovery. On the back in pencil there is an old attribution to the Ferrara school ("Ercole da Ferrara"). It is presented in a late 19th century style frame.
  • Creation Year:
    1600s
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 51.19 in (130 cm)Width: 105.52 in (268 cm)Depth: 5.12 in (13 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU680310867072

More From This Seller

View All
Painted Landscape with Scene of Preaching 18th century
Located in Milan, IT
Oil on Canvas. Venetian school of the 18th century. The large northern landscape, with verdant mountain slopes in the midst of which a river flows, is inhabited by several figures in...
Category

18th Century Other Art Style Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Painting with Scene of Battle mid-18th century
Located in Milan, IT
Oil on Canvas. The scene depicts a battle between an army of Moors and white soldiers, defending a fortification from which cannons are firing, while in the background a white city e...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Other Art Style Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Painting Adoration of the Magi late 1700s
Located in Milan, IT
Oil on Canvas. The scene is set inside a 'marble palace, with arches and vaults; the numerous figures occupy the space in a play of intertwining bodies and crossing gazes. In the ce...
Category

18th Century Other Art Style Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Painted Scene of Repentance of a King 17th-18th century
Located in Milan, IT
Oil on Canvas. In the center of the scene, a king kneels in a contrite attitude before an elderly man, who leans toward him in a benevolent welcoming attitude; all around, the soldie...
Category

Late 17th Century Other Art Style Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Painting The Suicide of Portia 18th Century
Located in Milan, IT
Oil on Canvas. The woman depicted in the scene can be traced back to Portia, the Roman noblewoman who was the wife of Brutus and thus lived in the first century BCE: according to le...
Category

18th Century Other Art Style Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Painting Madonna and Child with Angels 17th-18th century
Located in Milan, IT
Oil on Canvas. Italian school of the 17th-18th centuries. Mary and the baby Jesus, standing on her knees, are depicted already in the glory of heaven, with little angels beside them....
Category

Late 17th Century Other Art Style Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

You May Also Like

Interior Passion
By Mark Kostabi
Located in Greenwich, CT
Interior Passion is an oil on canvas painting, 20 x 19.75 inches, signed and dated 'KOSTABI 2018' in the image, lower left. Framed in a contemporary black frame.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Interior Passion
$9,695 Sale Price
30% Off
Echoes of the Present
By Mark Kostabi
Located in Greenwich, CT
Echoes of the Present is an oil on canvas painting, 23.75 x 17.75 inches, signed and dated 'KOSTABI 2018' lower left. Framed in a contemporary black frame.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Twilight Serenity, 2021
By Mark Kostabi
Located in Greenwich, CT
Twilight Serenity is an oil on canvas painting, 31.5 x 23.75 inches, signed and dated 'KOSTABI 2021' lower left. Framed in a contemporary black frame.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Three Graces
By Mark Kostabi
Located in Greenwich, CT
Three Graces is an oil on canvas painting, 17.75 x 23.75 inches, signed and dated 'KOSTABI 2019' lower center of image. Framed in a contemporary black frame.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Three Graces
$9,695 Sale Price
30% Off
Mid Century Modern Portrait of Woman in Green Dress Original Oil Painting
By Genevieve Rogers
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Modern Portrait of Woman in Green Dress Original Oil Painting Evocative mid century modern portrait of woman in green dress by California artist Genevieve Rogers (America...
Category

1960s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Illustration Board

Large oil on Canvas Painting -- Titanic Overture
By Gary Masline
Located in Troy, NY
This oil on canvas painting is an example of the artist's fascination with the moments just before something unexpected happens. The painting gives a scene often enacted in Northeast...
Category

2010s Contemporary Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All