Claude Lorrain's "Landscape with Apollo and Marsyas", circa 1639

Turning to the plot component of this work, which is one of the artist’s first works from the “Landscapes..” series, where he refers to classical mythical plots and images, it is worth noting the ideological and narrative significance of this famous myth in the work of other Baroque artists, opposing them compositionally an artistic solution to the result that the landscape painter came up with, presenting the figures in a secondary key. At this still early stage of Claude Lorrain's work, the development of one of the key and main models of the artist can be traced, where the plot not only plays a supporting role, but also complements the landscape itself, and not vice versa.

José de Ribera's Apollo and Marsyas, painted in 1637, draws our attention to how the traditional depiction of this subject in the early Baroque style, referring to ambiguous symbols and analogies, was based on the ideas of exceptional dynamics and expression of the main characters. So, we paid special attention to the skinning scene after the loss, and most often, bringing the emotional intensity of the episode to the maximum, we acquired new images in the form of Marsyas in tears and Apollo, self-tearing off his skin, which then leads us to think about the amazing expressiveness of the work.

Claude Lorrain, on the other hand, pursues, in a certain sense, the canonized antique depiction of the plot of the contest with Apollo and the punishment of the Phrygian satyr, Silenus, Marsyas. It can be said that the artist is already working with a prepared layout of symbols and allegories. At the feet of the satyr, we see a bagpipe imitating the famous two flutes thrown by Athena - the very image of a musical instrument at the feet of the hero comes from ancient vase painting. The choice of the episode of victory and the proclamation of Apollo as the winner also leads to the resolution of the main issue, where the worst only awaits our hero. So, the artist only imitates the tranquility of what is happening, supporting it with a special compositional solution, where the landscape comes to the fore.