Apollo and Phaethon with the Seasons (Alternative Title: Phaéton demandant à Apollon la conduite de son char, entouré des Saisons)

Charles de La Fosse 1636 - 1716

Summary

This mythological scene is a sketch executed by La Fosse between 1689 and 1691 for the staircase ceiling of Montagu House in Bloomsbury, London, when it was rebuilt following the fire of 19 January 1686. It was commissioned by Ralph Montagu (1638-1709), later first Duke of Montagu, former ambassador of Charles II to the court of Louis XIV. La Fosse had recently been working in the staterooms of Versailles for Louis XIV, in a style that was considerably more advanced than anything being practised in England at the time. He left Paris on 4th August 1689 to take measurements in London and returned to Paris later in the year to work on his designs. The sketch was most likely executed at this time, because the artist returned to London to carry out his work in 1690, completed 1691. The subject is from Ovid's Metamorphoses, II:1ff. Here, in the centre and brightest area of the painting, Phaethon is seen asking Apollo for the loan of his chariot, the sun. The story ends in disaster, with Phaeton losing control of the chariot and hurtling into the ground in a ball of fire - a fate that is indicated by Time's raised scythe. The Seasons are represented around the edges in a complex, highly ornamental arrangement carefully designed to achive its maximum impact when viewed from below. Spring is scattering flowers on the left; Summer is represented by lightly-clad figures in bright sunlight, one crowned with a wreath of corn ears, another holding a sickle below Phaeton and Apollo; Autumn is Bacchus with a group of revellers to the right; Winter, with white hair and a red cap, sits in relative darkness in the lower left, surrounded by figures spewing snow.