Phaethon Fall

Phaethon, unable to control his father Helios’ horses and chariot, rains havoc upon the earth and sky, forcing Zeus to hurl a bolt of lightning to destroy the chariot, causing Phaethon to fall to his death toward the river Eridanus. Here, Phaethon being hurled to Earth has been copied from Michelangelo’s drawing of the same subject (c.1534). The fleshed-out chariot horse is copied from Anthony Van Dyck’s ‘Francisco de Moncada, Marquis of Aytona, on Horseback’ (c.1630).