The Flaying of Marsyas 1750 - 1775

"The Flaying of Marsyas" is a 17th-century etching created by Giovanni Pietro Possenti, depicting the Greek myth of Marsyas' punishment for challenging Apollo to a musical contest. Marsyas, a satyr who found a double flute, was defeated by Apollo, who then flayed him alive as punishment. Possenti’s dynamic composition and detailed rendering of the scene bring this Greek myth to life. The etching is now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.