Apollo and Marsyas (Ribera, Naples)

Apollo and Marsyas is a 1637 oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera, now in the Museo nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples.

[1] Signed and dated at the bottom right,[2] Ribera's painting shows his full mature style, combining the crude and immediate Caravaggist realism with 17th century Neapolitan tenebrism with its accentuation of dramatic and violent figures.

With his bad teeth visible,[1] Marsyas turns to the viewer, making us witnesses to his pleas for mercy, whilst Apollo opens a deep wound with no facial expression beyond perhaps a subtle smile.

He was challenged to a contest by the god and - though it initially ended in a draw - Apollo then cunningly suggested playing their instruments backwards, which made a sound on his lyre but not on Marsyas' panpipes.

[7] Apollo and Marsyas remained in the Avalos collection in Naples until 1862, when Alfonso V d'Avalos gave it to the newly-unified Italian state.