This statue always blows my mind, every time I get to see it at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Their website provides this information:
Marsyas by Balthasar Permoser (German, 1651–1732)
In one of the great parables of hubris, the satyr Marsyas challenged the god Apollo to a musical competition. The god triumphed and then punished his challenger by skinning him alive. The contorted face, with an open mouth revealing a bitten tongue, and twisting head immediately convey pain, while the taut shoulders suggest that his arms are bound behind his back. The satyr is draped with an animal pelt, pointing to his gruesome fate. What looks like drapery is, in fact, the skin from the breast.
I knew it was a satyr. Did not know the story behind it. Thanks for that. The lighting is very good and an overall soft feel works gine here.
ReplyDeleteYou captured it well -- great lighting and shadows. What a gruesome story!
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