Phaeton, Gustave Moreau Fine Art

Phaeton, Gustave Moreau. Oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris. In Greek mythology, Phaëtōn or Phaethōn (pronounced /feɪətn/ or /feɪəθən/) (Greek: Φαέθων "shining") was the son of Helios (Phoebus). Perhaps the most famous version of the myth is given us through Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Book II). Phaeton seeks assurance that his mother, Clymene, is telling the truth that his father is the sun god Helios. When Phaeton obtains his father's promise to drive the sun chariot as proof, he fails to control it and the Earth is in danger of burning up when Phaeton is killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus to prevent further disaster. Gustave Moreau (6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French Symbolist painter whose main focus was the illustration of biblical and mythological figures. As a painter of literary ideas rather than visual images, Moreau appealed to the imaginations of some Symbolist writers and artists, who saw him as a precursor to their movement.