Apollo and Marsyas

Mola, Pier Francesco (1612-1666)

Item type:

drawing

Date of creation:

17th century

Height:

16.3 cm  (6 7/16 in.)

Width:

14.0 cm  (5 1/2 in.)

Technique / Medium:

pen and brown ink with brown wash

Place of creation:

Italia

Additional titles

Description

Apollo and a satyr meet beneath two trees. Apollo is seated leaning against the trees with his legs outstretched. A sketched musical instrument is in his right hand, probably a lira da braccio. The satyr approaches him from the right holding pan pipes. Trees and clouds are in the background. The artist's signature is at the bottom in the center and an insignia with a letter S is written in the lower right.

Iconclass

92B3412
contest between Apollo and Marsyas
92B3411 contest between Apollo and Pan
contest between Apollo and Pan

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Lira da braccio [3181]
Panpipe [4024]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Eitner, Lorenz, Betsy Geraghty Fryberger, Carol Margot Osborne, and Dwight C. Miller. Stanford University Museum of Art, the Drawing Collection (Stanford CA: Stanford University Museum of Art, 1993) 312, no. 47. ISBN: 9780295972947.

Notes

Although titled "Apollo and Marsyas," the satyr in the drawing is holding panpipes, the instrument played by Pan, rather than holding an aulos, the instrument played by Marsyas. Therefore, the drawing may depict the contest between Apollo and Pan instead of the contest between Apollo and Marsyas.

RIdIM record id

5448