01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes #33

Jusepe de Ribera,  (1591–1652) 

Apollo Flaying Marsyas, c. 1637

Oil on canvas

Height: 202 cm (79.5 in); Width: 255 cm (100.3 in)

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

In Greek mythology Marsyas was a satyr - a being that was half-man and half-goat - who was renowned for his flute playing.

The goddess Athena invented a flute, made of Deer bone. She performed for the other gods at a banquet on Mt. Olympus. Upon seeing Athena's cheeks puff out in an unsightly manner from blowing air through the flute, the other goddesses laughed at her. Athena, bewildered, went to the forest and began to play along a stream where she was able to catch a glimpse of her reflection. The sight of her rotund and puffing cheeks was not very goddess-like, as the others had cruelly pointed out, and she threw the instrument away in disgust. The curious satyr, Marsyas, passed by and picked it up.

His musical skills were almost instant. Marsyas spent many hours filling the forest with what were probably some of the purest and most sprightly musical notes ever heard. 

Marsyas developed an ego about his flute skills and challenged the god Apollo to a contest. The challenge was set, with the stipulation that the winner would get the privilege to choose to do whatever he wanted to the loser. 

With the Muses as judges, the two musicians began to play. The Muses could not decide on a winner, so Apollo suggested that they sing while playing When Marsyas protested, saying that it was impossible for him to play the flute and sing simultaneously, Apollo retorted that blowing into the flute is practically the same thing as singing.


The Muses judged Apollo's logic to be correct and since Marsyas could not compete with Apollo's sweet singing and concurrent lyre-playing, he lost.

As his prize, Apollo demanded that Marsyas be flayed alive. Acting as executioner himself, Apollo is said to have hung Marsyas from a pine tree where he torturously removed the doomed satyr's skin. More on Apollo Flaying Marsyas

José de Ribera (January 12, 1591 – September 2, 1652) was a Spanish Tenebrist painter and printmaker, better known as Jusepe de Ribera. He also was called Lo Spagnoletto ("the Little Spaniard") by his contemporaries and early writers. Ribera was a leading painter of the Spanish school, although his mature work was all done in Italy. 

Ribera was born at Xàtiva, Spain. He was baptized on February 17, 1591. He is said to have apprenticed with the Spanish painter Francisco Ribalta in Valencia. Longing to study art in Italy, he made his way to Rome in 1611. Roman artists gave him the nickname "Lo Spagnoletto".

Very little documentation survives from his early years. Ribera was living in Rome no later than 1612, and is documented as having joined the Academy of Saint Luke by 1613. He lived for a time in the Via Margutta, and almost certainly associated with other Caravaggisti who flocked to Rome at that time. In 1616, Ribera moved to Naples. In November, 1616, Ribera married Caterina Azzolino, the daughter of a Sicilian-born Neapolitan painter, Giovanni Bernardino Azzolino, whose connections in the Neapolitan art world helped to establish Ribera early on as a major figure.

Although Ribera never returned to Spain, many of his paintings were taken back by returning members of the Spanish governing class. From 1644, Ribera suffered serious ill-health, although his workshop continued to produce works under his direction. In 1647–1648, during the Masaniello rising against Spanish rule, he felt forced for some months to take his family with him into refuge in the palace of the Viceroy. In 1651 he sold the large house he had owned for many years, and when he died on September 2, 1652, he was in serious financial difficulties. More on José de Ribera

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