MARSYAS TORTURED FOR PRIDE
Ribera was drawn to violent subjects—notably, the flaying of St. Bartholomew and his pagan counterpart, Marsyas, a satyr who challenged Apollo to a musical contest. As punishment for losing the competition and for his sin of pride, Marsyas was tied to a tree and skinned alive. This independent drawing depicts the bound satyr screaming, his skin still intact. Ribera relates body parts to tree parts: torso to trunk, limb to branch. In a variation on the theme, he portrays Marsyas with human, rather than goat, legs, thus connecting this mythological subject to his numerous drawings of bound figures.
José de Ribera (1591-1652), Marsyas Bound to a Tree