Jacob de Backer Circle. Antwerp. First third of the 17th century. "Apollo and Marsyas" Oil on copper. 35 x 47 cm. The copper sheet has the mark of the hand incised on the back, a hallmark of Antwerp and of Pieter Claesz Soutman (Harlem, Netherlands 1593 - 1657) a "P" and an "S" framed by a heart. Frame measurements: 60 x 70 cm. This painting can be linked to the one by Jacob de Backer (Antwerp, 1555 - 1595), which depicts the same scene of Apollo flaying Marsyas, as described in passage VI, 308-400 in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, which is kept in the National Museum of Warsaw. Soutman, the maker of the copper plate which bears his marks, was a Dutch painter, engraver and dealer who trained with Rubens, and was court painter to the King of Poland between 1628 and 1630.