Phaeton alarm’d!
Primary
James Gillray
(London, England, 1757–1815)
NationalityEnglish, Europe
Date1808
MediumEtching and aquatint with hand-coloring
Catalogue raisonnéWright & Evans 340
DimensionsSheet: 13 5/8 × 14 13/16 in. (34.6 × 37.7 cm)
Additional Dimension: 13 3/8 × 14 3/4 in. (34 × 37.4 cm)
Additional Dimension: 13 3/8 × 14 3/4 in. (34 × 37.4 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase through the generosity of the Still Water Foundation, 1990.153
Keywords
Rights Statement
Collection AreaPrints and Drawings
Object number1990.153
On View
Not on viewAccording to Greek mythology, Phaeton convinced his father Apollo to allow him to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens. When Phaeton could not control the horses, they galloped too close to the earth and scorched its surface. In one of Gillray’s finest political allegories, Foreign Secretary George Canning, a passionate follower of former Prime Minster William Pitt, plays the role of Phaeton. His chariot drives the sun of Anti-Jacobinism through hostile constellations personified by members of the political opposition. Napoleon, straddling the Russian Bear, heads towards Western Europe while the ghosts of Pitt and Charles James Fox cower in the lower corners, watching the flames spread across the globe
Exhibitions
James Gillray
1796
Object number: 2002.1819
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Object number: 2008.143
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Object number: 2010.70
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Object number: 2010.73
