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    Phaeton

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    Phaeton
    Phaeton
    Phaeton
    The Trustees of the British Museum
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    Artist
    William Woollett (1735-1785) after Wilson
    Title
    Phaeton
    Date
    Published 3 September 1763
    Medium
    Etching and engraving
    Dimensions
    Metric: 480 x 610 mm
    Imperial: 18 7/8 x 24 in.
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    S,1.23
    Wilson Online Reference
    E12C
    Description
    Landscape with Phaeton and Apollo in the centre. Phaeton kneels before his father, asking permission to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens for one day. There are nymphs to the right and left, a flock of sheep and a shepherd on the next hill. The river Styx can be seen behind and there is a temple and castle, with the rays of the sun over it.
    Exhibited
    Free Society of Artists, 1763 (246 - Phaeton's suit to Apollo: a proof print); Tercentenary 2014 (95)
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image:
    [1] Upper left: Richard Wilson Pinxit.
    [2] Upper centre: J. Boydell excudt.
    [3] Upper right: William Woollett sculpsit.
    [4] Lower centre: PHAETON / In the Collection of his Grace the Duke of Bridgewater / Published according to Act of Parliament by J. Boydell Engraver in Cheapside, London Septr. 3d. 1763.
    Subject
    The narrative comes from the first part of the story as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses, Book 2, ll. 31-102, where Apollo agrees to grant his son, Phaeton, any wish he desires as a proof of paternity. In response Phaeton asks to be allowed to drive his father's chariot across the sky for one day - with disastrous consequences.
    Related Paintings
    P119A Landscape with Phaeton's Petition to Apollo, Private Collection
    Critical commentary
    At the 1763 exhibition of the Free Society of Artists the print was compared unfavourably by Tobias Smollett with George Stubbs's print of the same subject that had been exhibited the previous year. However, as noted by Martin Postle, Smollett did praise Woollett, whose star was rapidly rising: 'The engraver has shown all his art in the sky and in the rays of the sun, which strike over and about the building; and we never before saw the light and shadow so well preserved in any print so very delicately engraved.'
    Bibliography
    T. Smollett, The Critical Review; or Annals of Literature, vol. 16, London, 1763, p. 314; Edwards 1808, p. 88; Fagan 1885, pp. 22-23, cat. LI, 5th State; Clayton 1997, pp. 198-99; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 279
    More Information
    An impression belonged to William Lock of Norbury and featured in his sale, Sotheby's London 3-7 May 1821 (623).

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • William Pengree Sherlock, Lefevre & Kohler after Wilson, Phaeton, The British Museum

    Versions

    • William Woollett (1735-1785)after Wilson, Phaeton, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
    • William Woollett (1735-1785)after Wilson, Phaeton, The British Museum
    • William Woollett (1735-1785)after Wilson, Phaeton, The British Museum
    • William Woollett (1735-1785)after Wilson, Faetonte, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
    • William Woollett (1735-1785)after Wilson, Phaeton, Royal Academy of Arts, London

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Phaeton's Petition to Apollo, Private Collection

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014

    Biographies

    • William Woollett (1735-1785)
    • Lord Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803)

    Documents

    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Edward Edwards, Anecdotes of Painters who have resided or been born in England; with critical Remarks on their Productions
    • Louis Fagan, A Catalogue Raisonné of the engraved Works of William Woollett
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