Phaeton Driving the Chariot of Phoebus

Northern Italian · 1475–1500

Medium

Tempera or distemper on canvas

Original size

55.3 × 55.6 cm (21 3/4 × 21 13/16 in.); Framed: 68.3 × 68.9 × 7.7 cm (26 7/8 × 27 1/8 × 3 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Italian Renaissance

Phaeton Driving the Chariot of Phoebus captures one of antiquity's most dramatic myths at the height of the Italian Renaissance's fascination with classical narrative — the reckless young Phaeton, reins in hand, careering across the heavens in his father's solar chariot. Painted by an unknown Northern Italian master between 1475 and 1500, the work belongs to a tradition of mythological decoration popular among aristocratic patrons of the Lombard and Veneto courts. The choice of tempera or distemper on canvas, rather than the more common panel support, suggests this was likely conceived as a decorative furnishing piece — a spalliera or room hanging — where large-format storytelling mattered as much as devotional refinement. The palette retains a characteristic crispness, with figures modelled in clean, linear strokes that owe a debt to Mantegna's influence across the northern Italian workshops of the period. The painting has been held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it stands as a quiet testament to the secular ambitions of late-fifteenth-century Italian patronage. This hand-painted oil reproduction faithfully renders the composition's expressive energy and tonal balance, giving the mythological drama a presence and warmth that a print simply cannot replicate.