Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), one of the greatest masters of the 17th century, painted this masterpiece as a young artist in Rome. Rubens depicted a moment of high drama in this popular Greek myth that was famously recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses (c. 8 AD). Phaeton, the Sun-god Apollo's son, had begged and begged his father to allow him to drive the Chariot of the Sun across the sky. After Apollo finally conceded, his worst fears were confirmed: the rash youth had neither the strength nor the experience to control the chariot and keep it on its regular course through the heavens.
Learn more about the Ruben's masterpiece, The Fall of Phaeton, here: nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.71349.html
#PeterPaulRubens #BaroqueArt #17thCenturyArt #OldMasters #MythologyInArt #OvidMetamorphoses #GreekMythology #Phaeton #ArtHistory #ClassicalMyth #Masterpiece #MuseumMoments #EpicFailInMyth #HistoryThroughArt #ChariotOfTheSun
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), one of the greatest masters of the 17th century, painted this masterpiece as a young artist in Rome. Rubens depicted a moment of high drama in this popular Greek myth that was famously recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses (c. 8 AD). Phaeton, the Sun-god Apollo's son, had begged and begged his father to allow him to drive the Chariot of the Sun across the sky. After Apollo finally conceded, his worst fears were confirmed: the rash youth had neither the strength nor the experience to control the chariot and keep it on its regular course through the heavens.
Learn more about the Ruben's masterpiece, The Fall of Phaeton, here: nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.71349.html
#PeterPaulRubens #BaroqueArt #17thCenturyArt #OldMasters #MythologyInArt #OvidMetamorphoses #GreekMythology #Phaeton #ArtHistory #ClassicalMyth #Masterpiece #MuseumMoments #EpicFailInMyth #HistoryThroughArt #ChariotOfTheSun
