An Analysis and Personal Dissection of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas
Ancient history and mythology are some of many mysteries that have encapsulated the minds of modern historians. Despite the formation and uprising of such mythical works throughout human history, historians still have little to no information about the whereabouts or the long-term significance the stories of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses due to the lack of evidence still available after countless decades of vast social changes. While most of the beginning pieces of Greek and Roman history have been lost to time, historians have found many written stories dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire that showcase the dynamics of gods and mortals, a variety of life lessons that are still used to teach the modern youth lessons from the past, and, most importantly, the dramatic nature of mythology and the reflection of said nature throughout the history of art.
For my St. Louis Art Museum analysis, I chose Bartolomeo Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas, which highlights the cruel ending to the Greek myth of the same name. In terms of Manfredi, not much is known about him. Historians know Bartolomeo lived from 1582 to 1622 in Italy, but every other aspect of Bartolomeo’s life is still disputable to this day, making him one of many artists to be lost to time (St. Louis Art Museum). Bartolomeo is known for other art pieces, most notably Cupid Chastised, another art piece inspired by ancient mythology. He is also believed to be a successor to the famous Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, employing similar tactics that are seen in Caravaggio’s most popular works (Cupid Chastised). Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas is 37 5/8 inches tall (3ft 1 5/8in) by 53 9/16 inches wide (4ft 5 9/16in) and was painted sometime between 1616 and 1620 (St. Louis Art Museum). Painting during the early years of the Baroque period, Manfredi drew Apollo and Marsyas with oil paint (The Worlds Artist). Not only was oil painting immensely popular during the Baroque period, it also perfectly suits the smooth, intimate nature that Manfredi would employ on controversial and/or cruel subjects. Furthermore, oil paint is easy to blend, which is gorgeously showcased by the extreme shadows (chiaroscuro-like) on the figures of Apollo and Marsyas. While I did not go and view Apollo and Marsyas in-person at the museum, the digital remaster of the painting gives off the idea that Manfredi must have spent a long time to perfect the intricate details of Apollo and Marsyas’ muscles and the detailed shadows that travel along Marsyas’ torso and Apollo’s back. Additionally, oil painting is known for its countless layers of paint to masterfully blend and mold an artist’s desired shape in a painting, an aspect Manfredi executes flawlessly in this scene.
Overall, the work is very much representational. Manfredi, like many during his time, did not dip his toes into abstraction or non-representational works. While Marsyas and Apollo were neither fully human, Manfredi draws them both in a human form to give the viewer a sense of relatability and intimacy to the scene. Furthermore, the Baroque period focused heavily on the simplicity of mankind, and while Manfredi’s art is not based around the Christian fate, his art style follows the physical similarities of what would later become the Baroque style.
Moving on from the artist, Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas, from a surface-level perspective, has many artistic details to unpack. First, Manfredi does not use physical lines or shapes in his artwork. This was not uncommon during the Baroque period, as many artists wanted their work to be as realistic as possible. However, Manfredi implements implied lines to showcase Marsyas’ punishment from Apollo. At first glance, it might not be overly noticeable, even I missed it in my initial look-through, but Apollo is cutting through Marsyas’ skin on his left arm. Even though I missed it, once I noticed the incision in Marsyas’ arm, all the implied lines started to stick out. From Marsyas’ eyes being exactly lined up to the knife in his arm, to the knife is also the only straight line in the artwork, and Apollo’s focused yet cold visage as he cuts Marsyas’ arm, there are numerous implied lines that should take the viewer straight to Apollo’s bloody blade. It could be argued that many of these implied lines are purposely hard to catch to imply the silent yet painful punishment that Marsyas faced for going up against a Greek god. In terms of shape, both Marsyas and Apollo are painted with perfection in mind, with both figures being muscular and anatomically proper.
In terms of color, Manfredi uses mostly natural colors. Apollo and Marsyas’ skin are both natural, with no exaggeration on the skin color, and the leaves and bark of the tree that Marsyas is tied to feels somewhat subdued yet organic. The only color that sticks out in the entirety of the artwork is Apollo’s robe, which could signify Apollo’s position as a god compared to Marsyas, who is a satyr. The blue sky and the lighting on the skin sticks out to the viewer, which further suppresses Apollo’s punishment for Marsyas. When I first looked at the painting, the blue sky and the accurate, complex shadowing caught my attention, before the blade in Apollo’s blade could. In fact, the darker blue that is used for the upper half of the sky sometimes blurs out the dull-gray color of the blade, which is a bit ironic since many other renditions of the tale of Apollo and Marsyas make the flaying of Marsyas the focus of the image.
Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas uses space in such a smart way to portray the vast differences between the two. On the left side of the painting, Marsyas is tied to a tree, with the ropes and the other tree in the background making Marsyas’ side a bit clustered. However, on the right side, Apollo had nearly double the space to position himself as he cuts into Marsyas’ flesh, further highlighting the dynamic between the godly Apollo and the foolish Marsyas. Value, light, and texture all help back up this dynamic, with Marsyas’ face being covered in the shadows while Apollo’s face is completely visible and even brightened to emphasize his presence. Furthermore, Marsyas’ skin is much more wrinkled and flabbier than Apollo’s, whose skin is smooth, silky, and free of mortal aging. All the previously mentioned artistic elements are masterfully executed by Bartolomeo Manfredi to display the power that Apollo holds not only in Greek mythology, but the power he holds over Marsyas in this very scene, making it overly dramatic yet beautiful to the human eye.
In terms of design principles, Manfredi plays around with some of these as well. While scale, proportion, and repetition are mostly ignored in this scene, Manfredi uses principles such as balance, unity, variety, and emphasis to make the dynamic even more noticeable. For example, the painting is mostly symmetrical, with the overlap between Apollo’s grasping hand on Marsyas’ weakened arm being the split in the artwork. While both sides of the artwork contain a figure that balances out Marsyas and Apollo, it could be argued that Marsyas’ side is just a bit visually heavier than Apollo’s. This is because Marsyas’ side has an extra tree on the side, while Apollo’s side has nothing to counteract the tree. Artists do not believe that this was done by accident. According to the author of the Apollo and Marsyas page on the Saint Louis Art Museum, “It is no accident that the earthbound satyr stands before a tree, symbolic of the woodland, while the god is silhouetted against the sky.” In Manfredi’s art piece, he purposely uses nature to make the side of the mortal satyr heavier than the side of the god to drive home the idea that mortals are tied to nature, making us incapable of facing the immortal. Additionally, the slight variation in clothing styles and emphasis of Apollo’s grip on Marsyas’ arm, despite them both being portrayed as physically similar, adds enough variation and emphasis on Apollo’s dominance to juxtapose the concepts of equality and superiority.
Upon looking at the physical details of Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas, an audience who may be uninformed on the topic of the art piece may be confused upon examining the painting. While there is little to no information about the painting or Manfredi, historians know that it was created between 1616 and 1620 in Rome. If Manfredi did provide any additional information on the painting besides the back story, it has been lost in time. While we do not know much about Manfredi’s emotions towards his own artwork, historians are aware that his paintings are known for “popularizing low-life genre painting of tavern scenes,” which made him quite different to Caravaggio (The Worlds Artist). Manfredi’s choice to draw the ugly bits of mythology and real life could also be the reason taboo painting would become popular after the Baroque period. Historians also know that Manfredi’s usage of chiaroscuro in Apollo and Marsyas and his other works rooted from the rise of Caravaggio’s work, in which Caravaggio employed the tactic in many of his works, such as his painting The Supper at Emmaus in 1601 (Haval). While historians do not know why Manfredi decided to paint Apollo and Marsyas, it could only be assumed that he worked anonymously to live a semi-wealthy lifestyle without the popularity (The Worlds Artist).
Manfredi’s artwork heavily reflects what interested Italian society back in the 17th-century, which would have been Roman and Greek mythology. His paintings give a dramatic yet intimate and close perspective on the tales that come from mythology, which is why Manfredi was confused with Caravaggio for a long time (The Worlds Artist). While there is no account of why Apollo and Marsyas was originally painted, one can assume that the painting was either commissioned or used as an example of portraying artistic elements from Caravaggio. After his art career, historians are not entirely sure of Manfredi’s fate. The consensus is that Manfredi passed away at the age of 40, but no historian knows why. Regardless of his cause of death, Manfredi’s work are still being discovered to this day, with many art historians still categorizing 17th-century artworks between Caravaggio and Manfredi.
In short, Apollo and Marsyas is a painting from 17th century Rome painted by Bartolomeo Manfredi. The art piece displays a scene in which Apollo, the Greek god of music flays the arrogant satyr, Marsyas, after Marsyas dares Apollo to a flute-playing competition and loses (Smith). Apollo and Marsyas focuses on retelling a story and focusing on the history of Greek mythology. Through Manfredi’s usage of chiaroscuro, artistic imbalance, and symbols such as the trees and Apollo’s robe, Manfredi not only shows the audience his expertise in painting and art, but his ability to create an artwork that encapsulates the mood and nature of a tale that has been passed down for generations.
The more I have looked over the artwork, analyzed the physical and figurative details of the art, and investigated the artistic techniques of Manfredi and his predecessors, I would call this artwork gorgeous. Not only am I a fan of representational art, but I love the subtleness of Marsyas’ punishment behind layers of extreme shadowing, a broad yet muted color palette, and the intricate details that Manfredi has applied with each stroke of a paintbrush. I would argue that this art piece is valuable to the human experience, for I have never seen an art piece envelope such a cruel punishment within the beauty and formality of the Baroque art style. When I look at an art piece, I look for a story, emotions, symbolism, juxtapositions of ideas, formal beauty, and the artists’ ability to make me feel different upon analyzing their artwork. Going off my criteria, Manfredi does all of that, which is why I believe it was worthy of an in-depth analysis.
Works Cited
Cupid Chastised | The Art Institute of Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/59847/cupid-chastised. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.
Haval, Amruta. “Chiaroscuro – the Art of Light.” Nulty | Lighting Design Consultants, 24 Feb. 2017, https://www.nultylighting.co.uk/blog/chiaroscuro-art-light-shade-design-inspiration/.
The Worlds Artist. “Bartolomeo Manfredi | Biography, Art, Oil Paintings, The Worlds Artist.” The World’s Artist, 9 Oct. 2017, https://theworldsartist.com/artist/bartolomeo-manfredi.
Manfredi, Bartolomeo. “Apollo and Marsyas.” Saint Louis Art Museum, 10 July 2003, https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/43745/.
Smith, William. “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Ma’rsyas.” A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=marsyas-bio-1. Accessed 24 Oct. 2023.
Artwork by Bartolomeo Manfredi