Allegory attained a sort of peak in the self-congratulatory portrait the singer Passqualini commisioned from Sacchi.
The singer is depicted in the stage costume.
Apollo crowns him with a wreath of laurel in honour of his achievement, while in the background Marsyas, who had unsuccessfully challenged Apollo to a musical contest, is shown bound to a tree awaiting his punishment.
The compliment is that the singer Pasqualini -- a favourite of the Barberini family -- had accomplished what Marsyas had not been able to.
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