Cleveland Museum of Art
The Fall of Phaeton
Nicolas BeatrizetLinkedCulture matchlcp-3328f11b3790
- Date
- c. 1545
- Medium
- engraving
- Culture
- France, 16th century
- Department
- Prints
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 141917
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Michelangelo gave a finished drawing of the Fall of Phaeton to his close friend Tommaso de’ Cavalieri in 1533. Almost immediately, copies of the drawing were made in the form of plaques and prints without direct involvement from Michelangelo himself. This engraving by a French artist working in Rome closely follows Michelangelo’s composition for the scene but adds landscape elements in the background. In this myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses , Phaeton, son of the sun-god Helios, drives his father’s chariot across the sky but loses control, endangering the earth. Zeus intercedes to kill him with a thunderbolt. Below, Phaeton’s mourning sisters transform into trees.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Zinser
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