![]() One is standing, but crouched over slightly, and active. Her pale nude body covered by a sheer white sheet contrasts with the deep red, black, and gold tones around her. 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. ![]() 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 later work of Alexandre Cabanel, a French academic painter. ![]()
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