The Fall of Phaeton
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 10 1/4 × 15 1/16 in. (26 × 38.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1989
Accession Number
1989.1114
Tags
Art Historical Context
The Fall of Phaeton captures a dramatic moment from classical mythology, in which the young Phaeton loses control of his father Apollo’s sun chariot and plunges to earth. Created in 1545 as an etching, the print reflects the collaborative efforts of Francesco Primaticcio, an Italian artist working at the French court of Fontainebleau, and Antonio Fantuzzi, who translated the design into print. This work belongs to the elegant, elongated Mannerist style fostered at Fontainebleau, where Italian and French artists together produced decorations for royal residences. Etching allowed such dynamic c...