The Fall of Phaeton (Rubens)

Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

The Fall of Phaeton

Artist	Peter Paul Rubens
Year	c. 1604/1605
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	98.4 cm × 131.2 cm (38.7 in × 51.7 in)
Location	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The Fall of Phaeton is a painting by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, featuring the ancient Greek myth of Phaeton (Phaethon), a recurring theme in visual arts. Rubens chose to depict the myth at the height of its action, with the thunderbolts hurled by Zeus to the right. The thunderbolts provide the light contrast to facilitate the display of horror on the faces of Phaeton, the horses and other figures while preserving the darkness of the event. The butterfly winged female figures represent the hours and seasons, who react in terror as the night and day cycle becomes disrupted. The great astrological circle that arches the heavens is also disrupted. The assemblage of bodies form a diagonal oval in the center, separating dark and light sides of the canvas. The bodies are arranged so as to assist the viewer's travel continually around that oval.

Rubens painted The Fall of Phaeton in Rome and the painting was probably reworked later around 1606–1608.^[1] It has been housed in the National Gallery of Art since 5 January 1990. Rubens also painted other Greek mythological subjects, such as The Fall of Icarus, Perseus Freeing Andromeda, and The Judgement of Paris.

Sketch

Oil on panel, 28.1×27.5 cm, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

References

^ "The Fall of Phaeton". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 6 April 2014.

Gifford, E. Melanie (2019-08-21). "Rubens's Invention and Evolution: Material Evidence in The Fall of Phaeton". Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. doi:10.5092/jhna.

Peter Paul Rubens

Paintings
and drawings

The Descent from the Cross (Siegen; 1600–1602)
Leda and the Swan (1601, 1602)
The Deposition (1602)
Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua (1602–1605)
Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma (1603)
Portrait of a Young Woman (1603)
Hercules and Omphale (1603)
Heraclitus and Democritus (1603)
Virgin and Child (c. 1604)
The Fall of Phaeton (c. 1604/1605)
The Baptism of Christ (1604–1605)
The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity (1604–1605)
Transfiguration (1604–1605)
The Circumcision (1605)
Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria (1606)
Portrait of Maria di Antonio Serra (1606)
Portrait of a Noblewoman with an Attendant (1606)
Portrait of Giovanni Carlo Doria on Horseback (1606)
Madonna della Vallicella (1606–1608)
Susanna and the Elders (1607)
The Head of Saint John the Baptist Presented to Salome (c. 1609)
Adoration of the Magi (Madrid; 1609 and 1628–29)
Samson and Delilah (1609–1610)
Honeysuckle Bower (1609–1610)
Coronation of the Virgin (1609–1611)
Juno and Argus (1610)
Raising of the Cross (1610–1611)
Conversion of Saint Paul (London; 1610–1612)
Massacre of the Innocents (c. 1611)
Venus Frigida (1611)
Prometheus Bound (1611–1612)
The Four Philosophers (1611–1612)
Antwerp Resurrection (1611–1612)
Visitation (c. 1611–1615)
Roman Charity (1612)
Ecce Homo (1612)
Descent from the Cross (Antwerp; 1612–1614)
Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (Rotterdam; 1612–1614)
Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (Cambridge; c. 1614)
The Tribute Money (1612–1614)
The Defeat of Sennacherib (1612–1614)
The Four Continents (1610s)
Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter (1612–1614)
Portrait of a Commander (1613)
The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero (1613–1614)
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1613–1615)
The Death of Adonis (1614)
Venus and Adonis (1614)
St Sebastian (c. 1614)
The Virgin Mary and Saint Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (c. 1614)
Madonna della Cesta (1615)
Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno, Who He Wished to Seduce (1615)
Daniel in the Lions' Den (1615)
Bacchanalia (c. 1615)
A Statue of Ceres (c. 1615)
The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt (1615–1616)
The Tiger Hunt (1615–1616)
Theodosius and Saint Ambrose (1615–1616)
The Wild Boar Hunt (1615-1617)
Florence Resurrection (1616)
The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents (1616)
Erichthonius Discovered by the Daughters of Cecrops (c. 1616)
The Wolf and Fox Hunt (c. 1616)
The Lion and Leopard Hunt (c. 1616)
Romulus and Remus (1615–1616)
Saint Stephen Triptych (1616–1617)
Two Women with a Candle (1616–1617)
Descent from the Cross (Lille; 1616–1617)
The Meeting Between Abraham and Melchizedek (1616–1617)
Christ and the Penitent Sinners (1617)
Mars and Rhea Silvia (1617)
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (1617)
The Great Last Judgement (1617)
A Bearded Man (c. 1617–18)
Adoration of the Magi (Lyon; 1617–1618)
The Five Senses (1617–1618)
Two Satyrs (1618)
Medusa (1618)
The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (c. 1618)
Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death (c. 1618)
The Prodigal Son (1618)
The Union of Earth and Water (c. 1618)
Tigress with Her Cubs (attributed; 1618)
Mucius Scaevola before Lars Porsenna (c. 1618–1620)
Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee (1618–1620)
The Wild Boar Hunt (1618-1620)
St Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (1619–1620)
The Small Last Judgement (1619)
Conversion of Saint Paul (1620s)
The Fall of the Damned (c. 1620)
Landscape with Philemon and Baucis (c. 1620)
Portrait of a Young Man in Armor (c. 1620)
Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1620)
Perseus Freeing Andromeda (1620)
Saints Dominic and Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (1620)
The Rape of Orithyia by Boreas (1620)
Christ on the Cross (1620)
The Three Graces (Florence; 1620–1623)
Isabella Brant (c. 1621)
The Lion Hunt (1621)
Marie de' Medici cycle (1621–1630)
Portrait of Susanna Lunden (1622)
Perseus and Andromeda (c. 1622)
The History of Constantine (1622–1625)
Self-Portrait (1623)
The Conversion of Saint Bavo (1623–1624)
Diana and Her Nymphs Leaving for the Hunt (1623–1624)
Adoration of the Magi (Antwerp; 1624)
The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob (1624)
Christ Appointing Saint Roch as Patron Saint of Plague Victims (1623–1626)
Portrait of Infante Isabella Clara Eugenia (1625)
Portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (c. 1625)
Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1625–1626)
Angelica and the Hermit (c. 1626–1628)
Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry (1627)
The Triumphal Entry of Henry IV into Paris (1627)
The Annunciation (1627–1628)
The Fall of Man (1628–1629)
The Rape of Europa (1628–1629)
Minerva Protecting Peace from Mars (1629–1630)
Cimon and Pero (1630)
Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1630)
The Crowning of Saint Catherine (1631)
The Ildefonso Altarpiece (1630–1631)
Last Supper (1630–1631)
Odysseus on the Island of the Phaecians (1630–1635)
The Finding of Erichthonius (1632–1634)
The Rainbow Landscape (Saint Petersburg; 1632–1635)
The Garden of Love (c. 1633)
Adoration of the Magi (Cambridge; 1634)
Bathsheba at the Fountain (c. 1635)
The Dance of the Villagers (1635)
Helena Fourment with Her Son Frans (1635)
Venus and Adonis (New York; 1635)
The Triumph of the Church (1635)
The Feast of Venus (1635–1636)
The Feast of Herod (1635–1638)
The Village Fête (1635–1638)
Mercury and Argus (1635–1638)
Hercules's Dog Discovers Purple Dye (c. 1636)
Helena Fourment with Children (1636)
A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning (1636)
Saturn (1636)
The Rainbow Landscape (London; 1636)
Pallas and Arachne (1636–1637)
Het Pelsken (1636–1638)
The Birth of the Milky Way (c. 1637)
Consequences of War (c. 1638)
Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides / Deianira Listens to Fame (1638)
The Three Graces (Madrid; 1636–1638)
The Rape of Ganymede (1636–1638)
Diana and Callisto (1637–1638)
Helena Fourment with a Carriage (1638)
Self-Portrait (Vienna; 1638–1639)
Bacchus (1638–1640)
The Rape of the Sabine Women (1639–1640)
The Peasants Returning From The Fields (1640)
The Rainbow Landscape (Munich; 1640)
Judgment of Paris (various)