Art Institute of Chicago
Apollo and Marsyas
Hans Thoma (German, 1839–1924)LinkedCulture matchlcp-a4bfb9df0708
- Date
- 1888
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Culture
- Germany
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 192691
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
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 may also have been inspired by a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses .
The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Through prior gift of Henry Morgen, Ann G. Morgen, Meyer Wasser, and Ruth G. Wasser
Linked open data
Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.
- Object type
- AAT300033618
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.
Apollo Flaying Marsyas
Cleveland Museum of Art
#539177
Landscape with the Flaying of Marsyas
Minneapolis Institute of Art
#115800
Furniture Support Shaped as a Hanging Marsyas
Getty Museum
#0de45fb0-0607-444d-94dc-17158ea2b0ab
The Flaying of Marsyas
Cleveland Museum of Art
#312174
Apollo and Marsyas
Cleveland Museum of Art
#144627
Torso of Apollo
Cleveland Museum of Art
#105935
Apollo and Attendants Flaying Marsyas
Minneapolis Institute of Art
#1328
Study of Apollo for Marsyas (recto)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#166655
Apollo and the Muses
Minneapolis Institute of Art
#114410
Study of Apollo for Marsyas (recto); Face in Profile (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#166654
Apollo and Marsyas
Art Institute of Chicago
#73150
Plate 58: Apollo Killing Marsyas (Marsyas victus ab Apolline excoriatur), from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
#401060