The Burial of Phaethon

Former TitleThe Interment of Phaethon, Nymphs Reciting Incantations at the Grave of the Unfortunate Youth

Artist Workshop of Jan Leyniers (Flemish, 1630 - 1686)

Date1665-1685

MediumTapestry with wool and silk

DimensionsOverall: 158 × 220 1/2 inches (401.32 × 560.07 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number33-17/8

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Kirkwood Hall

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

Gallery Label

This is the last in a series of eight tapestries depicting scenes in the life of Phaeton, from Greek mythology. While driving the sun chariot of his father, Helios, Phaeton lost control and was struck down by Zeus' thunderbolt into the Eridanus river, where he drowned. Here, Phaeton's death is mourned by his sisters, the Heliades, who were turned into trees on the riverbanks and whose tears of grief became drops of amber. Phaeton's mother Clymene is shown concurrently kneeling at Phaeton's tomb and embracing one of the transformed trees in the background. Cycnus, friend of Phaeton, who was changed into a swan by his father Apollo, can be seen lamenting Phaeton's fate to the right.

Provenance

J. P. Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913), New York, by December 1909-1913 [1];

By descent to his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York, 1913-November 25, 1932 [1];

Purchased from Morgan by French and Company, New York, stock no. 17698A-H, November 25, 1932-January 30, 1933 [2];

Purchased from French and Company by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.

NOTES:

[1] J. P. Morgan, Sr. lent three of the eight tapestries in this series to the Wadsworth Atheneum in December 1909 and they remained there until May 1932. J. P. Morgan, Jr. lent the remaining five tapestries in the series to the Wadsworth Atheneum from March 1928 to August 1932.

[2] Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, French and Company Stock Sheets, box 17, folder 4 and Getty Photo Archive, 76.P.43, Textiles box 9. Morgan consigned five of the eight tapestries to French and Company from 1925 to 1928, but they failed to sell. They were returned to Morgan, who then lent them to the Wadsworth Atheneum (see note 1).

Published References

Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art. (Kansas City, MO: The Joseph D. Havens Co., 1933), 70 (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection. (Kansas City, MO.: Chas. E. Brown Print. Co., 1941), 78 (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection: Housed in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. (Kansas City, Mo, 1949), 94 (repro.).

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