The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

Anonymous, Netherlandish, 17th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Phaeton, who recklessly drove Apollo's chariot through the heavens, tumbles from the shattered vehicle toward the earth. Zeus holds high a thunderbolt as he puts an end to Phaeton's rampage. This is one of the engravings produced for an engraved series of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The engravings for the series do not display the virtuosity of Goltzius's autograph works and were no doubt made by members of his workshop.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"The Fall of Phaeton, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.