Apollo Flaying Marsyas in the presence of King Midas

Giovanni Paolo Paniniaround 1760

Details

Title: Apollo Flaying Marsyas in the presence of King Midas
Creator Lifespan: 1691 - 1765
Creator Nationality: Italian
Creator Gender: Male
Creator Death Place: Rome
Creator Birth Place: Piacenza
Date: around 1760
Provenance: Archbishop's Painting Gallery, Pozzobonelli Collection
Physical Dimensions: w64 x h49.3 cm
Painter: Giovanni Paolo Panini
Description: This painting and the one depicting Musical Contest between Apollo and Marsyas, Judge King Midas were designed as a pair and represent two moments taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (VI, 382-400), allegories of the human conflict between intellect and passion and the possibility of a spiritual catharsis. Both compositions feature Panini’s usual subjects of monuments, ruins and caricatures, but placed within a vibrant and lively atmosphere. The figures are executed with thin, quick brushstrokes that differ from the more fluid drawing of the landscape. These works, which can be dated to the last decade of the artist's career, stand out with respect to those of the first half of the eighteenth century for the breadth of the panorama that allows the viewer to wander beyond the limits of the canvas, and for the fluidity and the light colors which recall the works of the French painters in Rome, working at the Academy of France in that same period.
Type: painting
Rights: © Archivio fotografico Museo Diocesano, Milano
Medium: oil on canvas

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