Apollo Granting Phaeton Permission to Drive the Chariot of the Sun

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

There may have been seven mythological paintings in this series , each corresponding to a celestial body and a day of the week. In the 17th century, the cosmological correlations between the movements of the planets and the passing of time were demonstrated through stories like this one. Here, Apollo, the Roman sun god of Sunday, grants his pleading son Phaeton permission to drive his chariot, a journey that would bring the light of day across the sky. Apollo’s daughters, the Heliades, and Chronos, the god of time, look on with interest. Phaeton, a human, would ultimately crash and set the earth ablaze.

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