Have you ever looked at the disquieting statue situtated in the western corridor of the Uffizi gallery?
The Roman statute represents Marsyas who is going to die... Marsyas was a satyr: he dared challenge Apollo in a music competition but Apollo was the God of music. The satyr obviously lost so Apollo tied Marsyas to a tree and flayed him. The particular red colour comes from a kind of marble called "pavonazzetto" (a variety of Carrara marble) and reminds us the blood of a flayed body!!
Cosimo the Elder purchased the statue and showed it at the entrance of the new palace Michelozzo had just completed, Palazzo Medici, becoming a warning for all people who wanted to be received by Cosimo.
Cosimo the Elder, as we know, governed Florence establishing a "cripto-signoria", an hidden government. In fact, he didn't want to contrast Florentine Republic to risk the exile for the second time but the particular position he chose for the Masyas suggests us he was really sure about himself and he certainly knew people and Florentine population supported him.....Don't you think the same?
