Phaedra

Alexandre Cabanel, 1880
Phaedra, Alexandre Cabanel
Phaedra, zoomed in
194 cmPhaedra scale comparison286 cm

Phaedra is an Academic Oil on Canvas Painting created by Alexandre Cabanel in 1880. It lives at the Musée Fabre in France. The image is in the Public Domain, and tagged Melancholy. SourceDownloadSee Phaedra in the Kaleidoscope

“Consumed with love’s sorrow, Phaedra has locked herself in her palace. A delicate veil covers her head. This is the third day she has gone without food as she is intent on ending her wretched existence.”

Alexandre Cabanel depicts the heartbroken Pheadra, from the Greek play ‘Hippolytus’ by Euripides as a dramatically pale form with a death-like gaze. She contemplates her suicide, an act of vengance against her step-son Hippolytus, who rejected her incestuous love. The Greeks loved their tragedy with a dash of incest, and the French academic painters took full advantage of the luxurious settings and high drama.

wikipedia.org: Phaedra
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