Apollo and Marsyas

Cleveland Museum of Art

Apollo and Marsyas

Cristoforo di GeremiaLinkedCulture matchlcp-c7a1e6b50893

Date
c. 1468
Medium
bronze
Culture
Italy, 15th century
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
144627

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This plaquette is based on an important 1st-century gem attributed to Diskourides that passed into the Medici collection in the 1400s. The antique carnelian stone was so popular that the design was copied in numerous variations and media. In Ovid's Metamorphoses , Marsyas challenged Apollo to a music contest: his flute versus the god's lyre. As punishment for Marsyas's hubris, Apollo bound him to a tree and had his skin flayed. In the middle of the composition is the diminutive Olympus, Marsyas's student, begging Apollo for mercy. While the exact function of this plaquette is not clear, the subject had significance for political and noble figures in the Renaissance. The lyre symbolized peace, and thus the victory of Apollo's lyre stood for the triumph of universal harmony. When Pope Paul II Barbo (1417–1471) commissioned a portrait medal in 1468, the reverse included this same image, making the connection between his papacy and the new "Peace of Italy."

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.p-6oX1VgCLdCOyTj.G--WnTBh42HgevTpRlKUc_I7hXjJlF81tIMux1sqzbHgpcwE6acY-RpFbIr-YAdohqdDallxrpT2qQJUR_Aj5xEmkxh_ahsCUEJi11zkvumGLATU3qUac2qGAZkGXhrUTtfnZkFC1WsbxpWHvE0XjFYcuU4imW7Ne20xmeAOcVbiyc36FAw9PD-iiFuxycRARJOou_e0h_9fVCluN0dcD9SkvocrWtuEyta9QakW_w_KWdYsQ6lDC6NPQhBXlKrizmPiDUMT9DzM7xJyvAznBjGwURU3Ex7AnTGG2i5lePFiTPpnxwSee at Cleveland Museum of Art QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.OYNcnga8AF1e_u1Z.OsbSYf1RIRT-iysUKObfEe4sZq8xiywA8piQdGDKEXg7w2i-lJT6LOlEKktKiX4NjhtyLOc1kBKWgQS-esYaQRkJ1n5uiUHum5iihB88FkwZXoHsGi7YqaRAGmAKhQRjvW0PzmmY4me2XRrqUMqf9oQOTXulr2zVeLKNxOZ7LPBd0UHL4Wrd171qcXXX5CO27F9bNaFOMqNmlVcEellIaEWOKHAq0ZU_qTDp5ZbYzBqvDldmhnIOV1p2gPhYBprQLB7aok2u2yBokaehtQulvK_UJAFvWDAMhSXNTULDTg
Open this page
See at Cleveland Museum of Art

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line
Gift of the John B. Putnam Foundation
Provenance
Dr. Jacob Hirsch (New York, New York). | Bank Leu (Zurich, Switzerland), sold to Mrs. John B. Putnam. | John B. Putnam Foundation, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.