In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas fought and lost a musical contest with Apollo. The penalty was death, and he was flayed of his skin. The antique imagery of Marsyas shows him stripped bare, his hands bound and his arms raised above his head in preparation for his fate. This drawing replicates the antique iconography of Marsyas. It is a typical example of the swift, fluid style of draughtsmanship that Auguste Rodin first adopted around 1896. Even as Rodin continued to study from life models, in this case a nude male figure with his arms raised, he abandoned the academic standards of draughtsmanship the tropes of which were firm, precise mark-making and delicately modelled shading. His choice of media—a soft graphite pencil and a pale, localised stain of watercolour—was integral to this new, energetic manner: the pencil flowed easily, did not smudge, and permitted rapid repetition of contours; the watercolour element, graded to harmonise with the tone of the paper, was roughly brushed and used to render the flesh tones of the figure, instead of the fine shading then commonplace in academic draughtsmanship. Rodin’s example of looseness, which fostered exaggeration, was subsequently absorbed and developed by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.