Phaethon begs Apollo to let him drive the chariot of the sun. Engraving by W. Woollett, 1763, after R. Wilson.

  • Wilson, Richard, 1713-1782.
Date:
Sept.r 3rd, 1763
Reference:
3162289i
  • Pictures

About this work

Description

Ovid, Metamorphoses, II, 1-102, although in Ovid's account the conversation occurs inside Phoebus's palace, whereas Wilson shows them outside, in a landscape based on the Roman Campagna. Left, a castle; right, a temple; in the distance a ruined Roman aqueduct

Publication/Creation

London (in Cheapside) : Published according to Act of Parliament, by J. Boydell engraver, Sept.r 3rd, 1763.

Physical description

1 print : engraving, with etching ; platemark 48.5 x 62 cm

Lettering

Phaeton. In the collection of his Grace the Duke of Bridgewater. Richard Wilson pinxit. William Woollett sculpsit. I.Boydell excudt.

Notes

Forms a pair with a print of Niobe (Wellcome Library catalogue no. 2856156i)

References note

Timothy Clayton, The English print 1688-1802, New Haven and London 1997, pp. 188-189
Paul Spencer-Longhurst, with Kate Lowry and David Solkin, Richard Wilson online: a digital catalogue raisonné, London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2014, no. E12C

Reference

Wellcome Collection 3162289i

Reproduction note

After a painting in the opposite direction commissioned in Rome by 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, c. 1754-55, and exhibited in 1763 as "A large landskip with Phaeton's petition to Apollo"--Spencer-Longhurst, loc. cit.

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Where to find it

  • Laid down on acidic board for framing
    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores

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