Apolo Esfolando Mársias

In 1637 Ribera was the leading painter in Naples, then a Spanish possession, and he had built his reputation on scenes most people would rather not look at closely. Here he takes the old Greek story of Marsyas, a satyr rash enough to challenge the god Apollo to a music contest. Marsyas lost, and the price of losing was to be skinned alive. Ribera paints the exact moment the knife goes in. Apollo works at the leg with a calm, almost gentle face, while Marsyas, hung upside down by one hoofed foot, twists toward us with his mouth open and his bad teeth showing. He painted this scene more than once in these years. The Brussels canvas sets Apollo in profile and in a soft pink robe rather than purple, leaning in over the wound without a flicker of expression.