Ignudo della Paura (Frightened Naked Youth)

This lithe but sturdy figure is considered the finest variant of a popular model believed to be based on an antique prototype and to represent Marsyas. According to mythology, Marsyas was a satyr who picked up a flute discarded by Athena (because she felt that it distorted her face when she blew it) and became a skilled musician on the instrument. In some versions of the bronze, the subject wears the face bandage used by Greek and Roman flute players. The hands would originally have held a double flute. Images of and derivations from the type are also found in quattrocento frescos and drawings, from Florence to Padua, Pisa to Loreto.

Attributions to artists conceivably responsible for the present bronze have ranged with similar breadth, from Florence to North Italy, but whatever its authorship it seems likely that Pollaiuolo's taut, wiry nudes influenced the sculptor. The troubled brow and dodging stride of this young athlete may have led to identification of the model in some early inventories as "Paura" (Fear). Although inspired by an antique Marsyas, the Frick bronze lacks the little tail, horns, or pointed ears of a satyr and may indeed have been intended to represent the state of fear.

Source: Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.