Study of Apollo for Marsyas (recto); Face in Profile (verso)

late 1860s

Study of Apollo for Marsyas (recto); Face in Profile (verso), late 1860s. Paul Baudry (French, 1828–1886). Pen and brown ink; sheet: 26.7 x 20.6 cm (10 1/2 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.373 When Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry was commissioned to create the ceiling paintings for the Grand Foyer of the new Paris Opéra in 1864, for inspiration he visited the Sistine Chapel frescoes by Michelangelo—completed more than 300 years earlier. This drawing depicts the god Apollo from behind, intended for a scene in which Apollo points to the satyr Marsyas, with whom he held a musical competition. The pose and figure type recall Michelangelo’s monumental sculpture of David, which Baudry would have also seen on his Italian journey.