Apollo and Marsyas

Follower of Michelangelo, after the Antique

National Gallery of Art

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.