Phaedra is a later work of Alexandre Cabanel, a French academic painter. This work was exhibited in the Salon of 1880 and later donated by Cabanel to the Musée Fabre, located in his hometown of Montpellier, France. Phaedra is a large oil painting of a classical subject in literature, which can be attributed to Cabanel's studies in the Paris École des Beaux-Arts. As Cabanel's painting career developed, he expanded his style to preserve the French Academy while appealing to his personal interests in literature, often depicting new perspectives in contradiction with tradition. Alexandre Cabanel's painting of Phaedra exemplifies his pull toward academic paintings of theatrical heroines in reference to the social happenings of late nineteenth-century France.
The painting depicts Phaedra stretched out on her side in a lavishly decorated bed, one arm at supporting her head and one hanging off the edge fingering the expensive drapery. She stares out of the left side of the picture plane, her face dark and resolute, while her unkempt hair is splayed on the decorated pillow. Her pale nude body covered by a sheer white sheet contrasts with the deep red, black, and gold tones around her. Two ladies in waiting are on the right. One is standing, but crouched over slightly, and active. Her body is half out of the picture plane as she peers over at Phaedra, hands clasped as if silently imploring the woman to move. The second lady sits at Phaedra's bedside sleeping, eyes closed, head leaned back, as if resting from the exhaustion of some heavy emotion. The luxurious fabrics on the bed are scattered and slipping off, as if the bed hadn't been made for a while. On the floor sits an expensive fur rug, its golden tones reminiscent of the shield, helmet, and sword tied to a column before Phaedra's bed. The furniture and architecture are adorned with oriental designs, creating a foreign look of drama and wealth. The light source for the painting comes from outside of the picture plane on the left, contrasting with the dimly lit lantern in the background.
Technical properties
Medium
Cabanel used the oil painting technique, which creates a luminosity akin to the wealth and luxury of the subject, due to the shiny quality of the medium. This also gives the work a greater sense of depth, as the thin layers of paint provide striking visual effects to the contrasting dark and light colors in the scene.
Size
The size of the painting, a little over six by nine feet, is congruent with a traditional history painting, or a work depicting a historical event in monumental size in order to convey the importance and influence of that moment. This painting type was heavily used and venerated by the traditional group of academic painters, of which Cabanel was a part. However, in Cabanel's time, subjects from literature and mythology were also used for this painting type, as exemplified in Phaedra. Therefore, Cabanel, in alignment with his time, is taking an element of the traditional style and applying it to an alternate intelligent subject matter.
