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Description
The musical duel between Marsyas and Apollo is recounted by Herodotus and Ovid, among others, and has been a famously rendered subject by Raphael (1483-1520), Titian (c. 1487/90-1576) and Guercino (1591-1666). It is the vengeful tale of a vainglorious underdog, Marsyas, a silenus from an unattractive satyr-like race, challenging an opponent with vastly superior powers or Apollo, the god of music, archery, prophecy and medicine. With the Muses serving as judges, the outcome was all too predictable. The victorious Apollo had Marsyas strung to a pine tree and viciously flayed alive. As the woodland creatures lamented his callous death, their tears formed the River Marsyas, a tributary of the Meander. Marsyas skin, meanwhile, became a museum spectacle and was purportedly exhibited in ancient times at Celaenae, in modern Turkey.
The myth was given various interpretations over the centuries, particularly by Plato in his "Republic" and by Christian moralists in the medieval ages. My compulsion to illustrate the subject, however, was purely a vehicle for self-expression. On an emotional level, it allowed me to grasp the fury of Apollo and the wretchedness of Marsyas. A prospect that tapped into both fear and wonderment. The execution, conversely, resembled more a children's book.

Note: Above research and aforementioned title "Grotesque Mismatch" referenced from Ross King's "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling", Pimlico (2006)

Description
The musical duel between Marsyas and Apollo is recounted by Herodotus and Ovid, among others, and has been a famously rendered subject by Raphael (1483-1520), Titian (c. 1487/90-1576) and Guercino (1591-1666). It is the vengeful tale of a vainglorious underdog, Marsyas, a silenus from an unattractive satyr-like race, challenging an opponent with vastly superior powers or Apollo, the god of music, archery, prophecy and medicine. With the Muses serving as judges, the outcome was all too predictable. The victorious Apollo had Marsyas strung to a pine tree and viciously flayed alive. As the woodland creatures lamented his callous death, their tears formed the River Marsyas, a tributary of the Meander. Marsyas skin, meanwhile, became a museum spectacle and was purportedly exhibited in ancient times at Celaenae, in modern Turkey.
The myth was given various interpretations over the centuries, particularly by Plato in his "Republic" and by Christian moralists in the medieval ages. My compulsion to illustrate the subject, however, was purely a vehicle for self-expression. On an emotional level, it allowed me to grasp the fury of Apollo and the wretchedness of Marsyas. A prospect that tapped into both fear and wonderment. The execution, conversely, resembled more a children's book.

Note: Above research and aforementioned title "Grotesque Mismatch" referenced from Ross King's "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling", Pimlico (2006)