{"id":2712,"date":"2011-12-14T16:57:45","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T20:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/"},"modified":"2012-12-14T16:10:58","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T21:10:58","slug":"d-76-apollo-holding-a-lyre-and-the-skin-of-marsyas-for-a-fresco-in-the-salle-haute-of-the-pavillon-des-poeles-fontainebleau","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/drawings\/d-76-apollo-holding-a-lyre-and-the-skin-of-marsyas-for-a-fresco-in-the-salle-haute-of-the-pavillon-des-poeles-fontainebleau\/","title":{"rendered":"D.76A Apollo holding a Lyre and the Skin of Marsyas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

D.76A Apollo holding a Lyre<\/p><\/div>\n

For a fresco in the Salle Haute of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, Fontainebleau<\/strong><\/p>\n

1537 or 1538<\/p>\n

Paris, Louvre, Inv. 8632.<\/p>\n

Fig.D.76Aa<\/a>
\nFig.D.76Ab<\/a> bw<\/p>\n

Pen and grayish ink and wash; lightly squared in black chalk, 29.4 x 18.4.\u00a0 There are several lines in brown ink that seem to be additions to the original drawing: two lines defining the breasts, the line alongside the brow and nose, those on both sides of the left leg, and the line in back of the left hand; the drawing is very faded, especially the wash, somewhat stained, especially at the bottom, and spotted here and there at the top.<\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: Desneux de la Noue (signature on verso<\/em>, Lugt 3014); E. Jabach (paraph on verso<\/em>, Lugt 2959).\u00a0 Entered the Royal French Collection in 1671.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1964 (1976), I, Bk. I, 252, II, Bk. II, 406-408, D.46 (COPY), Bk. III, Fig. 125, as a copy of a lost drawing by Rosso of c. 1534-1536 and as possibly made to flank the Education of Achilles<\/em> in the Gallery of Francis I; \u201cAddition to the Preface,\u201d 1976, vii, as autograph.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1978, 48, n. 29, as Rosso, and for the Salle Haute at Fontainebleau.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9guin, 1982, 30, 35, Fig. 12, 48, n. 32, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 10, 11, 330-335, no. 104, Fig., as by Rosso for the Salle Haute at Fontainebleau, and done in 1537 or 1538.<\/p>\n

Boorsch, 1988, 9, as \u201clifeless;\u201d she thought that my original judgment that it is a copy may be correct.<\/p>\n

Scailli\u00e9rez, 1992, 134, no. 58, as Rosso, for the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, and as showing Apollo holding a lyre in one hand and in the other the skin of his rival Marsyas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The figure of Apollo resembles in his proportions, but even more in his pose, with his body and limbs arranged largely parallel to the picture plane, the figures of Europa and Philyra that flank the Royal Elephant<\/em> in the Gallery of Francis I (Fig.P.22, VI N a<\/a>).\u00a0 However, the figure of Apollo is somewhat more precisely composed within its frame, suggesting the composition of the nudes on either side of the Education of Achilles<\/em> (Fig.P.22, II N a<\/a>).\u00a0 It is true that these nudes represent an entirely different physical type, but they are posed in a broad and clear manner to fill their vertical settings, which are also rounded at the top and bottom, comparable to the way that Apollo is arranged within the area given to him.\u00a0 He is also similar to the foremost vase bearer in the Sacrifice<\/em> in the gallery (Fig.P.22, VII N a<\/a>), both figures having something of the same proportions, and almost identical profiles.\u00a0 Apollo\u2019s hair is piled up rather like that of the twin at the far right in the Twins of Catania<\/em> (Fig.P.22, V N a<\/a>), a detail that is more clearly visible in the drawing, albeit a copy, related to this fresco (Fig.D.60<\/a>).\u00a0 He is most similar, however, to the elongated and finely articulated figure of Christ in the Louvre Piet\u00e0<\/em> (Fig.P.23a<\/a>).\u00a0 The detail of showing Apollo holding the flayed skin of Marsyas is a poignant detail, which, along with the god\u2019s anxious upward glance, also speaks for Rosso\u2019s authorship.<\/p>\n

Graphically, the Louvre drawing is very much like the Pandora and Her Box<\/em> (Fig.D.67a<\/a>) and the Throne of Solomon<\/em> (Fig.D.34<\/a>).\u00a0 The handling of the Apollo<\/em> has not the spontaneity of the Pandora<\/em> but also not the very studied appearance of the Aretine drawing.\u00a0 Fading and stains on the sheet lessen the effectiveness of the shadows on Apollo\u2019s body.\u00a0 At the same time, however, the execution of so many parts of the drawing, especially the penmanship of the head and hair, and of the lyre, is so deft and sensitive as to indicate that the drawing is autograph and not a copy of a lost drawing by Rosso.\u00a0 This single figure has not a narrative context nor the revelatory light of the Pandora<\/em>.\u00a0 I might add that there are innumerable copies of existing autograph drawings by Rosso, many of which I had not seen by 1964 when I judged this drawing a copy, and none show the deftness or the pentimenti<\/em> of this drawing.\u00a0 Nor do any of these lifeless copies show the poignancy presented by Apollo\u2019s expression and by the pentimenti<\/em> of his profile as he examines the skin of Marsyas, whose horrible death was decreed by Apollo himself (see also Rosso\u2019s earlier drawing, Fig.D.41a<\/a>).<\/p>\n

As the Apollo<\/em> is most similar to the Louvre Piet\u00e0<\/em>, probably done in 1538, it is likely that the drawing was done about the same time.\u00a0 It appears to have been made for the decoration of the Salle Haute (L.43<\/a>) in the Pavillon des Po\u00eales at Fontainebleau, to which can also be related a Venus and Cupid<\/em> (Fig.E.152<\/a>) and a Diana Shooting with Her Bow<\/em> (Fig.E.61<\/a>).\u00a0 The construction of this pavilion was probably begun in 1535, but it is likely that the decoration of the Salle Haute at the top of it was not commenced until after the Gallery of Francis I was largely completed.\u00a0 This would place the beginning of the decorative work in the Salle Haute probably no earlier than 1537 or even 1538.\u00a0 The Apollo<\/em> could have been done in either year.\u00a0 Its style is not especially identifiable with that of works that appear to have been made in the last period of Rosso\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

Rosaline Bacou, in Collections de Louis XIV<\/em>, 1977-1978, 74, under no. 34, pointed out that some of the drawings in the collection of Desneux de la Noue were gathered by him from the studios at Fontainebleau.\u00a0 The Apollo<\/em> could have been one of them.<\/p>\n

COPY, PRINT: Anonymous, E.151 (Fig.E.151<\/a>).\u00a0 Engraving.<\/p>\n

There is another print of this subject (Fig.E.60<\/a>), which is not, however, based on the drawing in the Louvre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a fresco in the Salle Haute of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, Fontainebleau 1537 or 1538 Paris, Louvre, Inv. 8632. Fig.D.76Aa Fig.D.76Ab bw Pen and grayish ink and wash; lightly squared in black chalk, 29.4 x 18.4.\u00a0 There are several lines in brown ink that seem to be additions to the original drawing: two lines […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":820,"menu_order":80,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2712","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7938,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2712\/revisions\/7938"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}