Art History Visual Analysis

Kaitlin Yang

Professor Bass

TA Jennifer Padgett

History of Western Art

Visual Analysis Paper

Apollo and Marsyas

        Apollo and Marsyas by Bartolomeo Manfredi can be found in the St. Louis Art Museum. It was done in oil paint on canvas with a dimension of 37 5/8 x 53 9/16 inches in 1616. In Apollo and Marsyas, Manfredi uses high contrast, simple balanced composition and color, and consistent color schemes to convey a sense of stability and intelligibility, thus vividly presenting the scene of satyr Marsyas being punished by god Apollo for his arrogance.

        The painting is hanged approximately 4 feet above the ground, so middle of the piece is at the common viewers’ eye level. The painting focuses on two life sized figures, Apollo and Marsyas, that take up about the same amount of space in this painting. The fact that the figures are life-sized suggests the artist’s intention of capturing the exact scale and proportion of the characters to present the event in the most vivid way. The surface of the piece is virtually smooth, and the colors are well blended. Manfredi uses the obvious light sources and shadows to create texture and direct viewers’ eyes around the artwork. In this painting, the dominant element is Apollo’s face, which is highlighted by bright colors and refined details of his facial expression. Your eyes start from Apollo’s face, followed by his neck, then down his arm all the way to Marsyas’s arm, face and whole left side of the body because that’s the order of the direction of the light after Apollo’s face. The only obvious light sector that is not connected to the light trail described above is a small part of Apollo’s leg. It is slightly distracting due to its shape, a semicircle of dark on the triangle of light, and how bright it looks next to the dark red, but at the same time, the existence of it is needed for balancing out the colors and preventing the right corner to be overly dark and flat.

        Apollo’s face and neck are painted in a very bright skin tone, with a focus on yellow colors, while Marsyas’s skin has some red and orange mixed inside. The two most noticeable highlights are the one on Apollo’s nose and Marsyas’s ear. They are easy to spot since Apollo’s nose is in between two dark areas, the shadow of his arm and his dark hair, and Marsyas’s weirdly shaped ear stands out in his dark, curly hair. They are painted in the same length and thinness, and they are seemingly the only two strokes that are not meant to be blend in. They do not stand out in an awkward way since Manfrrdi avoids thick, dark lines to outline all components in the painting; they only add to the contrast and realism of the piece.  

        Both of their faces are portrayed in profile. From far away, the shadow on Apollo’s back can be misinterpreted as an extension of his hair, which creates a false sense of feminine traits; his leafy hairband also adds to the feminine illusion. However, through his use of color, Manfredi creates a different symbol of boldness and strength for Apollo. The red cloth covers the majority of Apollo’s body, so it makes it difficult for the viewers to visualize his body type and muscles, unlike Marsaya’s uncovered body. Despite this, Manfredi portrays Apollo’s boldness and strength with the light, distinct concentrated facial expression, and the solid red on his body that symbolizes his power and masculinity. On the other hand, half of Marsyas’s face and body is in the shadows, as if the painter wants to hide his features, while Apollo has almost no shadow blocking his facial expression and displays his power prominently. Also, Manfredi applies different textures on Apollo’s cloth cape and Marsyas’s furry loincloth. The dark red cape is extremely smooth and detailed, layered with perfect folds while the loincloth is messy and does not clearly show the viewers what it is made of. It also seems like it is about to fall off, but the fact that Marsyas’s arms are tied up suggests that he is powerless in front of Apollo.