Happy birthday to Peter Paul Rubens, born on this day in 1577. To celebrate the artist, take a look at "The Fall of Phaeton," painted by Rubens in Rome. What captures your attention first?

This picture tells the story of Phaeton, Apollo’s son. Phaeton begged his father to allow him to drive the chariot of the sun across the sky. In the hands of the rash youth, who had neither the strength nor the experience to control the chariot, the horses bolted. Everything in their path was scorched with the sun's heat. The butterfly-winged female figures, personifying the seasons and hours, react in terror as the earth below bursts into flame. Even the great astrological bands that arch through the heavens are disrupted. To save the universe from destruction, Zeus, king of the gods, throws a thunderbolt, represented here by a blinding shaft of light. As the chariot disintegrates, Phaeton plunges to his death.

The artist worked on this painting over a number of years. Rubens's study of works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo influenced his use of complex poses and a powerful sense of movement. The lighting reveals the artist’s attention to Venetian artists as well.

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, "The Fall of Phaeton," c. 1604/1605, probably reworked c. 1606/1608, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund

N.D.L.R. : Contemporain de la Chaslerie.

Ces Peter Paul, c'est quand même de sacrés balaises !