ARTH-205 Genially #2 - Kylie Powell

Somewhat Accurate

"Then, aiming at the youth, with lifted hand, full at his head he hurl'd the forky brand, In dreadful thund'rings. Thus th' almighty sire suppress'd the raging of the fires with fire."

To cease Apollo's accidental destruction of the Earth, Zeus struck him with lightning. While Zeus is not depicted in the painting, his implied presence parallels Ovid's Metamorphoses, since, in the text, one must assume that Zeus is the one who has taken action. That being said, Rubens' depiction of lightning is somewhat strange, as it seems more like a ray of sunshine than the flaming bolt of lightning Ovid implied. This deviation from the text may have resulted from the lack of lightning depicted in art at this time. It may also have been because Rubens wanted to experiment with different kinds of lighting. Nonetheless, his decision seems to intentionally create a less grim and more divine-appearing work, even with the anguished figures.

Inaccurate

"Here Spring appears with flow'ry chaplets bound; here Summer in her wheaten garland crown'd; here Autumn the rich trodden grapes besmear; and hoary Winter shivers in the reer."

The above text appears at the beginning of Phaeton's story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, not at the depicted climax. These characters were not near Phaethon during his fall, yet Rubens chose to depict them here as women with butterfly wings for two likely reasons. First, their horror represents the destruction of Earth's climate, as they are an allegory of the seasons. Second, they make the composition more complex and technically skilled, since all of them are in different poses and nude. This aligns with the interest at the time in ideal, intricately posed nude bodies following Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling.

Accurate

"The breathless Phaeton, with flaming hair, shot from the chariot, like a falling star"

In reference to Ovid's Metamorphoses, Rubens depicts Apollo's son, Phaeton, falling from his chariot after being struck down by Zeus. Behind his head, one can see the "flaming hair" Ovid mentions. While it seems that Rubens used his artistic liberty to paint a background of flames instead of hair explicitly on fire, the placement and clear addition of the fire is enough for the viewer to render this accurate to the source text. In addition, Phaeton's pose is very elegant; is arm is draped over his head, and his body is arching out of the chariot. Both the elegance and complexity of this pose emulate a "falling star"—accurate to the simile in the text.

Somewhat Accurate

"The world was in a blaze; nor cou'd he bear the sultry vapours and the scorching air, [...] lost in the whirling clouds that round him broke, and white with ashes, hov'ring in the smoke."

In the background and general atmosphere, Rubens only somewhat follows Ovid's description. One can assume that, for clarity and emphasis on the figures, he decided to leave out the smoke, vapours, and any possible references to the "scorching air." That being said, Rubens did accurately capture the "whirling clouds," which can be seen integrated throughout the composition. For example, the clouds act as a ground for some of the figures to stand on and are used as a background in the top left corner of the painting. Here, Rubens largely leaves behind most elements of the text in favor of furthering his almost dreamlike, divine-inspired narrative.

Accurate

"The horses started with a sudden bound, and flung the reins and chariot to the ground"

Here, one can see that Rubens took a sentence, lacking detail, from Ovid's Metamorphoses and depicted it faithfully to the text while also enhancing the imagery. All four horses in the scene are in complex, highly emotive poses. This was not described in the text, yet it brings the painting to life as one can see the fear and anger in the contortions and facial expressions of the horses. While Rubens took some liberties here, he also accurately fulfilled what the text did say about the horses; the grey horse in the top right is rearing in an attempt to fling off the reins, and the two middle horses can be seen falling to the ground along with the chariot.

The Fall of Phaeton, c. 1604-1608

Peter Paul Rubens

The Fall of Phaethon by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens was based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, written about 1600 years prior. The pivotal moment in the story that Rubens chose to depict is covered in only one paragraph. For this reason, he often either took aspects from earlier in the story and integrated them into the climax or exercised artistic liberties. That being said, for the most part, Rubens' painting faithfully depicts Ovid's writing, despite these deviations. Accurately to the source text, Phaethon's hair is illuminated by fire as he gracefully falls from his chariot; the horses fearfully begin their plummet to Earth after bucking off the reins. Somewhat accurately, the lightning strike, while altered from the description in the text to look less like an aggressive flaming bolt and more like a ray of sunshine, is still present; the atmosphere is filled with clouds, but the smoke, vapors, and "scorching air" are missing. Finally, the only element analyzed here that is inaccurate is the allegorical characters of the seasons. While they are mentioned at the beginning of Ovid's Metamorphoses, their appearance here and the choice to depict them as nude, winged figures is a complete deviation from the source text. However, these decisions were purposeful. From following the High Renaissance fascination with idealized nude bodies inspired by classical antiquity to creating a complex, highly skilled narrative that gives the piece a dreamlike, celestial quality, Rubens' artistic embellishments and liberties appealed to the humanist movement. The work requires an understanding and appreciation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, classical antiquity, Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling, Greek mythology, and allegory. Overall, the source served merely as inspiration for Rubens to create a painting that captures more complexities in a single frame than Ovid was able to in his story about Phaethon in Metamorphoses.