Apollo and Marsyas

c. 1495/1535

Anonymous Artist

Sculptor

The nude bodies of two men are carved from white marble in high relief against a flat placquard with the curving contours of a bean. The bearded man to our left faces our left almost in profile as he sits on a rock or grassy knoll. His hands are tied behind his back and perhaps around a tree growing just behind him. His head bows forward. The other man is clean-shaven and stands to our right. He holds an object down by his side, and stands with most of his weight on his left leg, to our right, so that hip sways in that direction. His body is angled to our right, but he looks back over his shoulder at the other man. The right edge of the background curves inward, and the rest of the perimeter is rounded.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    marble

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 41.2 × 32.07 × 8.57 cm (16 1/4 × 12 5/8 × 3 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.1.5

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Bartolomeo Cavaceppi [c. 1716-1799], Rome.[1] Outside wall of a house on the Lungarno delle Grazie, Florence; acquired from there by Baron Reinhold von Liphart, Dorpat and Munich-Grafeling, by 1891;[2] on consignment from September 1947 with (Paul Drey, New York);[3] sold 1948 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] Johann Joachim Winckelmann, History of Ancient Art, translated by Alexander Gode, New York, 1969[1764]: 258.
[2] The sculpture had been discovered in Florence by Liphart's grandfather, Karl Eduard von Liphart (1808-1891), and the grandson's acquisition of the sculpture is described by Wilhelm von Bode, "Eine Marmorkopie Michelangelos nach dem antiken Cameo mit Apollo und Marsyas," Jahrbuch des preussischen Kunstsammlungen 12 (1891): 167. Liphart is also listed as the owner in Amtliche Berichte aus den Königlichen Kunst Sammlungen, 1 July 1891: IV, no. 3, and he is cited as the lender of the sculpture in the catalogue of a 1935 exhibition at the Drey galleries in New York.
[3] A statement by Drey in the dealer's prospectus for the sculpture (in NGA curatorial files) states that it had been "continuously" in his custody from the time it was shipped to New York in 1935 for exhibition, but that the "official permit for sale" was granted in September 1947. Charles de Tolnay's 1943 book, The Youth of Michelangelo (vol. 1 of 5, Princeton, pp. 233-234), lists the sculpture as with a New York dealer at that time, but a note in Drey's prospectus specifically refutes this fact, indicating the sculpture belonged to von Liphart.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1919

  • Museum Copenhagen, 1919.

1928

  • Pinakothek, Munich, 1928-1929.

1935

  • Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance, A.S. Drey Galleries, New York, 1935, no. 43, as by Michelangelo.

1992

  • The Genius of the Sculptor in Michelangelo's Work, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1992, no. 17, repro.

2010

  • Pregio e bellezza: Cammei e intagli dei Medici [Precious and Beautiful: Cameos and Intaglios of the Medici], Museo degli Argenti, Florence, 2010, no. 47, repro., as by Imitator of Michelangelo.

Bibliography

1891

  • Bode, Wilhelm von. "Eine Marmorkopie Michelangelos nach dem antiken Cameo mit Apollo und Marsyas." Jahrbuch des preussischen Kunstsammlungen 12 (1891):167

  • Baldoria, Natala. "Apollo e Marsia, bassorilievo in marmo attribuito a Michelangelo." Archivio Storico dell'Arte (1891): 309.

1892

  • Frey, Carl, ed. Il Codice Magliabechiano. Berlin, 1892: 276-277.

1900

  • Neumann, Dr. Wilhelm. "Aus Baltischen Gemäldesammlungen." Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst 35, new series 11 (1900): 268, fig. 5, 271.

1913

  • Thode, Henry. Michelangelo und das Ende der Renaissance: kritische Untersuchungen über seine Werke. 6 vols. Berlin, 1908-1913: 1 (1908):6-8; 3 (1913):72-74.

1928

  • Mackowsky, Hans. "Michelangelo's First Sculpture." The Burlington Magazine 53, n. 307 (October 1928): 165-170, pl. 1.

1929

  • Mackowsky, Hans. Michelangelos Frühstes Werk. Leipzig, 1929: 1-16.

1935

  • "An Early Michael Angelo." New York Herald Tribune (Sunday, March 24, 1935): 10 V.

  • Comstock, Helen. "The Connoisseur in America." Connoisseur 95, n. 406 (June 1935): 348.

1940

  • Righetti, Romolo. Incisori di gemme e cammei in Roma dal Rinascimento all'Ottocento. Rome, 1940: 67.

1943

  • De Tolnay, Charles. Michelangelo. 5 vols. Princeton, 1943: 1:233-234.

1951

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 242, no. 108, repro., as Attributed to Michelangelo.

1953

  • Goldscheider, Ludwig. Michelangelo. London, 1953: 206.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 422, repro., as Attributed to Michelangelo.

1961

  • Ciardi Dupré, Maria Grazia. "Presentazione di alcuni problemi relativi al Tribolo scultore." Arte antica e moderna n. 13/16 (January-December 1961): 244-247.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 162, as Attributed to Michelangelo.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 143, repro., as Attributed to Michelangelo.

1971

  • Richter, Gisela Marie Augusta. The Engraved Gems of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. 2 vols. London, 1971: 2:156, fig. 728a.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 68.

1986

  • Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1986: no. 90.

1987

  • Agosti, Giovanni, and Vincenzo Farinella. Michelangelo e l'arte classica. Exh. cat. Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1987: under no. 12, repro.

1992

  • Stapleford, Richard. The Age of Lorenzo de' Medici: Patronage and the Arts in Renaissance Florence. A Walking Tour of Italian Painting and Sculpture in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1992: no. 18, repro.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 150, repro.

1996

  • Wyss, Edith. The Myth of Apollo and Marsyas in the Art of the Italian Renaissance: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Images. Newark, Delaware, and London, 1996: fig. 112.

  • Wallace, William E. "They Come and Go." Art News (April 1996). Not paginated.

1997

  • Banzato, Davide, Maria Beltramini, and Davide Gasparatto, eds. Placchette, bronzetti e cristalli incisi dei Musei Civici di Vicenza, secoli XV-XVIII. Vicenza, 1997: 51.

1998

  • Avery, Charles, Marzia Ratti, and Angela Acordon, eds. Sculture: bronzetti, placchette, medaglie. Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, La Spezia. [Cinisello Balsamo], 1998: 263, no. 182.

1999

  • Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.

2006

  • Acidini Luchinat, Cristina. Michelangelo, scultore. Milan, 2006: 15, 25, n. 14.

2011

  • Rossi, Francesco. La collezione Mario Scaglia: placchette. 3 vols. Bergamo, 2011: 1:30, under Derivazioni, n. 22.

Wikidata ID

Q63854430

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