The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 25, 2024
Apollo and Marsyas
c. 1468
(Italian, active 1456–76)
Overall: 4.1 x 3.4 x 0.4 cm (1 5/8 x 1 5/16 x 3/16 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
This plaquette is based on an important 1st-century gem attributed to Diskourides that passed into the Medici collection in the 1400s. The antique carnelian stone was so popular that the design was copied in numerous variations and media. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Marsyas challenged Apollo to a music contest: his flute versus the god's lyre. As punishment for Marsyas's hubris, Apollo bound him to a tree and had his skin flayed. In the middle of the composition is the diminutive Olympus, Marsyas's student, begging Apollo for mercy. While the exact function of this plaquette is not clear, the subject had significance for political and noble figures in the Renaissance. The lyre symbolized peace, and thus the victory of Apollo's lyre stood for the triumph of universal harmony. When Pope Paul II Barbo (1417–1471) commissioned a portrait medal in 1468, the reverse included this same image, making the connection between his papacy and the new "Peace of Italy."- Dr. Jacob Hirsch (New York, New York).Bank Leu (Zurich, Switzerland), sold to Mrs. John B. Putnam.John B. Putnam Foundation, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
- Wixom, William D. Renaissance Bronzes from Ohio Collections. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975. Mentioned and reproduced: Cat. no. 26Winter, Patrick M. de. “Recent Accessions of Italian Renaissance Decorative Arts, Part I: Incorporating Notes on the Sculptor Severo Da Ravenna.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 3 (March 1986): 74–138. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 82, fig. 19 www.jstor.org
- Collecting Drawings in England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1987-January 17, 1988).Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).
- {{cite web|title=Apollo and Marsyas|url=false|author=Cristoforo di Geremia|year=c. 1468|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.261