Skip to main content

Primary sourcePaintingc. 1533

The Fall of Phaeton

Michelangelo · c. 1533

A presentation drawing Michelangelo made as a gift for Tommaso de' Cavalieri, illustrating the myth of Phaeton.

Michelangelo made and inscribed this drawing as a personal gift for Tommaso de' Cavalieri.

Ask Michelangelo Buonarroti about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Pen and ink drawing on grey paper showing the myth of Phaeton: at top, a falling figure and chariot horses; at bottom, a reclining nude man, figures with raised arms among trees, and handwritten Italian verse beneath.
Michelangelo, The Fall of Phaeton, c. 1533. British Museum, London.

About this source

What it is

This drawing, made around 1533, depicts the mythological fall of Phaeton, son of Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Michelangelo created it as a presentation gift for Tommaso de' Cavalieri, whom he had met in 1532. A written note at the bottom, in Michelangelo's own hand, calls it unfinished and offers to complete it or make another version if Cavalieri was not satisfied. It is now held at the British Museum in London.

Why it matters

The drawing documents a personal exchange between Michelangelo and Cavalieri, showing the artist's use of mythological subjects as gifts and his careful, self-critical approach to his own work. A second version of the same subject exists in the Royal Collection, showing Michelangelo revisited the theme for his friend.

Look closer

  • What does the written note at the bottom reveal about Michelangelo's relationship with Cavalieri?
  • Why might an artist offer to redo a finished gift?
  • How does the drawing use multiple figures to tell different parts of the same myth?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Michelangelo Buonarroti on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Michelangelo Buonarroti sources

Meet the AI Michelangelo Buonarroti →
Full-length white marble statue of a nude young male figure standing in contrapposto, one hand raised to his shoulder, the other at his side, set on a rough base within a domed, pale-walled room.Sculpture

Primary source

David

Michelangelo · 1501-1504

A printed plate, numbered 106, in a bound album showing an engraved elevation of a wall tomb with architectural niches, statues, reclining figures, a central arched niche with a seated figure, and a circular medallion at top. Handwritten German caption below reads Entwurf für ein medicäisches Doppelgrab (Orig. in d. Albertina).Artifact

Primary source

Elevation of a Planned Double Tomb for the Magnifici, Medici Chapel

unbestimmt

Wide view of the painted Sistine Chapel ceiling: a grid of framed panels with figures, nude and draped, with pendentives and lunettes in the corners, painted in warm earthy tones.Painting

Primary source

Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo · 1508-1512

Michelangelo's fresco The Last Judgment on a wall. Christ sits at center in a blue halo surrounded by nude figures. Angels blow trumpets above, the dead rise from the ground, and figures fall into a boat and down toward hell at the bottom.Painting

Secondary source

The Last Judgment

Michelangelo · 1536-1541

Engraved reproduction plate, page numbered 25, of Michelangelo's seated marble statue of Moses in an ornate architectural niche. Moses has a long flowing beard and horns, holds his beard with one hand, and rests on a pedestal inscribed with Latin text. Pencil caption at lower left reads S. Pietro in Vincoli.Photograph

Secondary source

Statue of Moses by Michelangelo, San Pietro in Vincoli

unbestimmt

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Michelangelo Buonarroti now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions