The Fall of Phaeton

The Fall of Phaeton from 1777 by George Stubbs depicts the mythological subject of the sun god Apollo's son losing control of the solar chariot, the horses plunging earthward before Zeus intervenes. This rare mythological subject gave Stubbs an opportunity to combine his equine expertise with classical narrative—the horses' wild, uncontrollable panic requiring the full range of his anatomical understanding of equine terror and motion. The painting connected his work to the tradition of history painting that held the highest academic prestige, demonstrating his ambition beyond the sporting portrait. His contemporaries noted the incongruity of Britain's greatest horse painter deploying his skills in mythological narrative, but the painting's anatomical power is undeniable. The work is held at a National Trust property and represents one of the most unusual paintings in his entire output.

The plunging horses of the sun chariot are rendered with Stubbs's anatomical precision, the dramatic fall creating a dynamic composition of equine terror.