''The Fall of Phaeton'' is a c.1533 charcoal on paper drawing of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

's son Phaeton from

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in London.

History

It was maded for Tommaso dei Cavalieri, who the artist had met in 1532, with a dedication at the bottom calling it an unfinished presentation drawing and stating that (if dei Cavalieri did not like it) Michelangelo would finish it for him or make another the following evening. At the top is

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

hurling a thunderbolt. At the base is a thicket with two

Heliades In Greek mythology, the Heliades (Ancient Greek: Ἡλιάδες means 'daughters of the sun') also called Phaethontides (meaning "daughters of Phaethon") were the daughters of Helios and Clymene, an Oceanid nymph. Names According to one ve ...

(who, looking at the sky, despair at their brother's fate and are transformed into poplars),

Cycnus In Greek mythology, several characters were known as Cycnus (Ancient Greek: Κύκνος) or Cygnus. The literal meaning of the name is "swan", and accordingly most of them ended up being transformed into swans. * Cycnus, son of Ares. * Cycnus, ...

hiding his face in his hands, and the reclining river god Eridanos. A second sheet on the same subject by the artist (now in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

) was also produced for dei Cavalieri, for whom he drew a ''Rape of Ganymede'' and other subjects. On this sheet Cycnos' transformation into a swan is more explicit than that of the Heliades.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fall of Phaeton category:Prints and drawings in the British Museum category:Drawings by Michelangelo category:Works based on Metamorphoses Jupiter (god) Cultural depictions of nymphs