Elihu Vedder was a very successful nineteenth century American artist, who after studying in Rome, settled there. He was influenced by the pre-raphaelites, and English and Irish mystical artists like William Blake and W.B. Yeats. Marsyas was a half-man half-goat creature in Greek mythology called a satyr. The painting is based on a story in which Marsyas challenged the god Apollo to a musical skills contest, which Marsyas lost, and was then punished for his 'hubris,' or arrogance at challenging a god.