Phaedra and Hippolytus

When Guérin showed this at the Salon of 1802, Racine's tragedy Phèdre had been on the French stage for 125 years, and he lays the figures out in a shallow band, like actors seen from the stalls. King Theseus, back after he was believed dead, sits on the right beside his wife Phaedra. She has fallen in love with his son Hippolytus and been refused. Now her nurse Oenone, who will soon accuse him in her place, bends to whisper in her ear. The sword across Phaedra's lap is the young man's own, snatched from him earlier and about to be used as proof. Hippolytus stands apart on the left with his bow, his quiver and his hunting dog, one arm held out stiffly toward the group. The state bought the canvas at the Salon, and Guérin exhibited it again in 1814.