1888
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Apollo and Marsyas is a 1888 oil by Hans Thoma, a German Romanticism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows Apollo and a satyr named Marsyas. They are having a music contest. Apollo plays the lyre and Marsyas plays the flute. This painting is interesting because it tells a story from a old poem. The story is about a contest that doesn't end well for Marsyas. Check out the work of Hans Thoma to see more art like this.
Along with Arnold Böcklin , Hans Thoma was a leading Northern European figure in the shift from Realism and history painting to art inspired by classical myths and legends. Taken from Ovid’s epic poem Metamorphoses , Thoma showed the satyr Marsyas challenging Apollo, the master of the lyre, to a musical contest. Although he avoided depicting the cruel outcome of the match (the satyr lost and was flayed alive by Apollo), the artist’s treatment of Apollo, whose idealized body and luminous skin set him apart from the shadowy halftones of his challenger, hints at the winner. Thoma’s painted frame…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Hans Thoma (2 October 1839 – 7 November 1924) was a German painter. An alumnus and later professor of Karlsruhe Academy, he is known for his landscapes, portraits, and symbolic works rooted in German regional life and…
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